South Western Railway (SWR) has issued a reminder to customers to only travel if necessary on Christmas Eve due to strike action and industrial action leading to a severely reduced service ending at 3pm.
Parts of the network will be closed completely on Christmas Eve, with no service across the SWR network on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
A severely reduced service
On Tuesday 27th December, SWR will run a severely reduced service, with large parts of the network closed. RMT strike action at Network Rail means the network will be closed until midday, with first services starting even later.
Following a review of services on 19th and 20th December, SWR has added some additional trains to strengthen services between London Waterloo, Surbiton, Woking, and Basingstoke.
While it is unsafe to operate morning peak services from some suburban stations, a limited number of off-peak trains will now serve Earlsfield and Whitton stations.
Mann: We have unfortunately had to make some very difficult decisions
SWR’s Managing Director, Claire Mann, said,
“We are very sorry that RMT industrial action will cause so much disruption to our customers over the Christmas period. We share their frustration at what is a very busy time of year for travelling.
“The industrial action has significantly reduced the number of trains we can operate each day and we have unfortunately had to make some very difficult decisions on where and when we can operate.
“We have worked incredibly hard to strengthen some services from today and continue to advise customers to check their entire journey before travelling.”
Island Line Trains are not included in the strike or industrial action.
