South Western Railway (SWR) has warned passengers that they should only travel if absolutely necessary on Wednesday 6 December. If they must travel, passengers are advised to check whether their services are running.
Members of the ASLEF union, which represents train drivers, will be taking strike action that day which will hit SWR services. The union will be taking industrial action from Friday 1 until Saturday 9 December and most train operating companies (TOCs) will be affected on different days. This differs from the action taken in the past when most TOCs were affected on the same day.
An extremely limited service will operate between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking and Guildford, as well as between Basingstoke and Salisbury. Services will run between 07:00 and 19:00 and there will be no other services on any other lines outside of these times.
No service will run on the Island Line. Passengers in areas such as Bournemouth, Exeter, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Staines, Windsor and Yeovil will not see any SWR trains, though services by other operators may be running. Passengers should also note that connections may not be possible at some stations, as drivers at Southeastern, Gatwick Express and Southern will also be taking action on Wednesday 6 December.
Over the nine-day period, ASLEF has instructed members not to work any overtime. This will affect SWR from Friday 1 to Tuesday 5 December, as well as from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 December. SWR expects to run a normal timetable on those days, but there could be some cancellations. However, passengers should check ahead as strike action at other companies could impact their possible connections.
Journey planners are up-to-date for services from Friday 1 to Thursday 7 December, with the exception of West of England services on Monday 4, Tuesday 5 and Thursday 7 December, which should be up-to-date later in the week. Service levels for Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December will be confirmed as soon as possible next week.
Additional disruption is expected on Sunday 3 December, when services between London Waterloo and Exeter St David's are expected to be extremely busy due not only to the ASLEF union overtime ban but also because of engineering work between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction. Services are being diverted via Westbury, with rail replacement buses running between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction until Sunday 10 December.
Customers should note that Great Western Railway will be running a significantly limited service and will not be running services to Exeter St David's on Sunday 3 December.
The public is also reminded that from Sunday 10 December, SWR will begin operating a new timetable.
Stuart Meek, Chief Operating Officer for South Western Railway, said: “We're sorry that national industrial action will again impact SWR services for the first nine days of December. ASLEF will take strike action on Wednesday 6 December, meaning we will run an extremely limited service, and we must urge our customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on that day.
“During other days of industrial action, customers should check their entire journeys before setting off, as there will be some cancellations and drivers at other operators may be on strike. We know that this is a busy time of year as we approach Christmas, so we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding.”
It is time you all get back to work and accept the pay deal or join the dole que as there are train drivers who need a job and will work for the pay they get.
I agree, they should not be allowed by law to hold honest commuters to random 6
The French and others drive 300kph trains using in cab signalling for around 40k.
SWR crawl around at 100kph for 65k.
No wonder fares are sky high.
Their packages are much better than a UK drivers, also 3.5 day week… must tell the Mrs how she’s a rabid socialist and she should acfept Harper’s proposed 12% real terms pay cut…
At least it was confirmed today busses will run from Yeovil to Salisbury
Agree 100% with comments above ! Sick and tired of 1, hour journeys turning into 2/3 hours . After a 9 hour work day . Lazy bastards, get back to work !!!!!!!!!!!!
Haven’t used a train since before Covid, when I tried they or RMT were on strike. I can’t plan any trip because of the threat of strikes and travel by rail is becoming too expensive at a time when it should be used more and more. Either the trains will become a thing of the past or drivers will be when driverless trains come in. Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas but of course they don’t get to vote on all the offers.
I totally agree, these strikes are politically motivated combined with pure greed. I have met train drivers on holiday and they are very arrogant about there pay and conditions and don’t give two hoots about the general public. I am fuming, get Back to work you greedy bstards.
Sack tham all and start again, this will never happen in Japan….train driver’s who’s trains are late are sacked…and they pay half the fares that we have to in this country..they are far better organised don’t have a union … and there trains Run on time….train union’s are not the way to go…
I am physically disgusted by these strikes, they actually get paid one heck of a lot more than a lot of people in society, why are they making a huge deal over it, isn’t it about time someone told them where to go and sack them, especially for when they even try to go on and on about it, it’s stopping others from work, business, being with family, hospital appointments etc