Companies have until 3 September to apply to run the franchise
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Adverts for a new firm to run the rail franchise in the South East have started to appear.
Connex was stripped of the franchise to run services in Kent and Sussex after an investigation into cancellations, late-running services and old, overcrowded trains.
The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) also decided the company's financial management was too poor.
Now Connex South Eastern, which has carried passengers for the last seven years, has only three months left to run.
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There is no magic solution
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On Thursday the government started advertising in the specialist rail press for a new company to run the services.
One of the firms which is planning to put in a bid for the franchise is Stagecoach, which runs South West Trains.
Andy Pitt, from Stagecoach, said it would a difficult franchise to run.
He said: "There is no magic solution.
"It is a question of attention to detail and focusing on the key priorities and we will only know about that when the SRA issue their requests for tender.
"The commuter franchises are an area where we have expertise.
"Currently we run the South West franchise and we recently retained that for an extra four years."
Another potential rail operator for the area is First Group, the firm that came second to Connex during the original bidding.
Whichever company gets the franchise will not take over until 2005.
Until then trains are to be managed by the Strategic Rail Authority.
The deadline for bids is 3 September.
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