South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October due to the planned RMT and TSSA industrial action.
Island Line will be unaffected by the strike action.
Expect severe disruption
Customers should expect severe disruption on the network and, if they must travel on either of those days, should seek to do so by other means.
SWR has published its strike day service levels for Saturday 1st October, which will provide a severely reduced service on the routes Network Rail has made available.
Significant parts of the network will be closed entirely and those trains that are running will be far less frequent and much busier compared to normal.
The Windsor Line
Unlike during previous strike days, on Saturday 1st October, trains on the Windsor Line will run two per hour and terminate early at Feltham. This is due to planned £375m Network Rail engineering upgrades which, once completed, will enhance future services on this line for many years to come.
Due to the impact of the strike day, customers are also urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on Sunday 2nd October, when first trains will start much later than usual across the network and are likely to be very busy.
More than 2,100 to strike
Staff at Network Rail, more than 2,100 SWR members of the RMT union, and SWR members of the TSSA union are set to take strike action on Saturday 1st October, causing severe disruption.
Network Rail will provide contingency cover for critical roles including electrical control room operators, signallers, maintenance, and response teams, but will not be able to cover the whole day.
Reduced timetable
SWR’s reduced timetable will run from 07:15 to 18:30 on Saturday 1st October, and will consist of:
- Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Feltham
- Two semi-fast trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
- Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking
- Two fast trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Southampton Central
Trains will not stop at all the stations on these routes. There will be no SWR services across the rest of the network.
ASLEF strike action
SWR drivers will not be involved in the planned ASLEF strike action on Saturday 1st and Wednesday 5th October. However, customers should check before they travel, as their connections with other operators might be impacted, or not run at all.
Tyler: Those needing to travel should seek to do so by other means
South Western Railway’s Performance and Planning Director, Steve Tyler, said,
“I’m sorry that due to strike action we must urge our customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on Saturday 1st October and Sunday 2nd October. Those needing to travel should seek to do so by other means.
“Large parts of our network will be closed on the strike day and there will be a late start up on the morning after. Those who must travel are urged to carefully check the times of first and last trains and avoid them if possible as they are likely to be very busy.
“We are grateful to our customers for their continued cooperation, patience, and understanding as the rail industry works to bring this damaging nationwide strike action to an end.”
Customers are urged to check the SWR website for latest information here.
News shared by Steve Harris on behalf of South Western Railway. Ed
