Drivers join strike action on South Western Railway

Monday, 28 August 2023 01:00

SOUTH Western Railway has confirmed its strike day services for Friday, 1st and Saturday, 2nd September.

This will be followed by an ASLEF Union ban on overtime working, together with strike action by members of the RMT Union, on Saturday, 2nd September.

Friday, 1st September, will be the first strike action on the network involving mainline drivers. In previous days of the ASLEF Union strike, action was limited to depot drivers, who bring trains in and out of service.

With a shortage of mainline drivers, SWR will run an extremely limited service with the majority of the network closed. Customers are advised that there will be fewer trains than on previous strike days. Trains will only run between the hours of 0700 and 1900 as follows:

London Waterloo to Woking – 4 trains per hour peak, 2 trains per hour off-peak London Waterloo to Twickenham – 2 trains per hour London Waterloo to Basingstoke – 1 trains per hour Guildford to Woking – 1 trains per hour

This means no trains from Salisbury

There will be no service on the Island Line.

On Saturday 2 September, a significantly reduced service will operate on a limited number of lines. Large parts of the network will be closed. Trains will only run between the hours of 0700 and 1900 as follows:

London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside via Hounslow - 2 trains per hour Windsor & Eton Riverside to London Waterloo - 2 trains per hour London Waterloo to Basingstoke - 2 trains per hour London Waterloo to Southampton Central - 2 trains per hour London Waterloo to Woking - 4 trains per hour Salisbury to Basingstoke - 1 trains per hour Guildford to Woking - 1 trains per hour London Waterloo to Ascot via Twickenham - 2 trains per hour Ascot to London Waterloo via Hounslow - 2 trains per hour

A normal service will run on the Island Line.

For both Friday, 1st and Saturday, 2nd September, SWR is advising customers to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary.

Journey planners are now up to date, and the latest information is available at southwesternrailway.com/strike.

If customers must travel, they should check their entire journey as other train operators will be affected on both days of strike action.

Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “This is the first time our network has been subject to full strike action by members of the ASLEF Union and, as a result, we are only able to offer an extremely limited service on Friday 1 September.

“Friday 1 September will be different to previous days of strike action with a lot fewer trains running and with the majority of the network closed. Our advice to customers is to not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary. The few services we will be running are likely to be extremely busy and we may have to use queuing systems and crowd control measures.

“A significantly reduced service will operate the following day, Saturday 2 September, with more lines open but with large parts of the network still closed. Trains will only run between 0700 and 1900 and so our advice, again, is to only travel if journeys are absolutely necessary.

“If customers must travel on either day, they should check