Severe rail disruption due to latest industrial action

Wednesday, 27 September 2023 01:00

SOUTH Western Railway has confirmed its services on days of industrial and strike action in September and October.

ASLEF union industrial and strike action will affect the SWR network on the following dates:

Friday 29 September – overtime ban Saturday 30 September – strike action Monday 2 October – overtime ban Tuesday 3 October – overtime ban Wednesday 4 October – strike action Thursday 5 October – overtime ban Friday 6 October – overtime ban

Journey planners for Friday, 29th September, will be up to date on Tuesday, 26th September. Journey planners for Saturday, 30th September, are now up to date.

On days of strike action, an extremely limited service will operate on a small number of lines and the majority of the network will be closed.

On Saturday, 30th September, trains will only run between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Woking and Guildford via Woking.

On Wednesday, 4th October trains will only run between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking, Guildford via Woking and between Basingstoke and Salisbury.

On both dates, trains will only run between the hours of 0700 and 1900. There will be no other services outside of these times.

There will be no service on the Island Line and customers in areas such as Bournemouth, Exeter, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Staines, Windsor and Yeovil will not be served by SWR services on these two dates.

Customers are advised only to travel if absolutely necessary. If customers must travel, they should check their entire journey before travelling, as other operators will also be affected.

On Friday, 29th September, and Monday, 2nd, Tuesday, 3rd, Thursday, 5th and Friday, 6th October, a normal weekday timetable will operate with a small number of cancellations. An hourly service will run on the Island Line.

Customers are advised to check before travelling on these dates and to check their entire journey as other operators will be affected.

Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “I’m sorry to say that, due to industrial and strike action by the ASLEF union over the next two weeks, we will be forced to make changes to our timetables.

“We will run an extremely limited service on both Saturday 30th September and Wednesday 4th October and our advice to customers is to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary. While we will run as many services as possible on days subject to overtime bans, our advice to customers is to check before travelling.

“On all seven dates of industrial action customers should check their entire journey before they travel as other operators will be affected. We’re very sorry for the disruption that this will cause and we’re very grateful to our customers for their continued patience.”

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