Due to planned engineering works, no services will run between Basingstoke and Southampton. South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October due to the planned RMT industrial action.
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 8 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.
Due to the impact of the strike day, customers are also urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on Sunday 9 October, when first trains will start much later than usual across the network and are likely to be very busy.
Staff at Network Rail and more than 2,100 SWR members of the RMT union are set to take strike action on Saturday 8 October, causing severe disruption.
Long-planned engineering work will also reduce the network available to SWR, meaning fewer services will run compared to previous strike days. Specifically, SWR will be unable to run services between Basingstoke and Southampton on the mainline and services towards Windsor will only run as far as Hounslow.
SWR’s reduced timetable will run from 07:15 to 18:30 on Saturday 8 October, and will consist of:
- 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
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 urged to check the SWR website for latest information here.
