South Western Railway has announced strike service levels for Saturday the 8th of October and will see a significantly reduced service on routes which Network Rail has made available with far fewer services than usual and will be extremely busy.
The rail operator is advising customers to find alternative transport solutions and only to travel by train if absolutely necessary and where possible to travel on the days either side of the industrial action.
Travel on Sunday the 9th of October will also see services starting much later than normal throughout South Western Railway's network with trains anticipated to be much busier than usual.
Network Rail staff and 2,100+ South Western Railway employees are members of the union RMT and will be joining the strike action taking place on Saturday the 8th of October.
Further to the industrial action, engineering work which was planned a long time ago will also add further reductions in the network available to the rail operator and will mean fewer services will be running when compared to earlier strike days. The engineering work means that South Western Railway will not be able to run services between Basingstoke and Southampton via the mainline and will also see services to Windsor only running as far as Hounslow.
South Western Railway's reduced timetable will operate from 07:15 to 18:30 on Saturday the 8th of October as follows:
- Four trains per hour in each way between London Waterloo and Woking
- Two semi-fast trains per hour each way between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
- Two trains per hour each way between London Waterloo and Hounslow
Summary of the services running on Saturday 8 October:
| London Waterloo to Woking | London Waterloo to Basingstoke | London Waterloo to Hounslow |
| 4 trains per hour each way | 2 semi-fast trains per hour each way | 2 trains per hour each way |
| First train from Waterloo: 0720 | First train from Waterloo: 0715 | First train from Waterloo: 0722 |
| Last train from Waterloo: 1750 | Last train from Waterloo: 1745 | Last train from Waterloo: 1722 |
| First train from Woking: 0718 | First train from Basingstoke: 0724 | First train from Hounslow: 0750 |
| Last train from Woking: 1748 | Last train from Basingstoke: 1654 | Last train from Hounslow: 1800 |
| Services will call at:
London Waterloo Walton-on-Thames Byfleet & New Haw West Byfleet Woking |
Services will call at:
London Waterloo Clapham Junction Surbiton Woking Farnborough Fleet Hook Basingstoke |
Services will call at:
London Waterloo Clapham Junction Wandsworth Town Putney Barnes Bridge Chiswick Isleworth Hounslow |
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 8 October and Sunday 9 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 strongly advised to check their travel plans ahead of making their journey by using South Western Railway's website for up-to-date information.
The Island Line is not part of the strike action and will see services operating as usual.
