South Western Railway: Only travel by train if absolutely necessary this weekend
The operator's warning of severe disruption
There's a reminder to customers planning to use South Western Railway services this weekend (Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th June) to only travel by train if absolutely necessary.
Routes are expected to be severely disrupted by strike action tomorrow, with a later Sunday service running the following day.
Parts of the SWR network will be shut completely as a result of the walkouts by staff who are members of the RMT union, in a row over pay, jobs and safety.
The knock-on effect of the strikes means that services on Sunday (June 26th) will be severely disrupted too, due to signal and maintenance staff being unavailable until later than normal, with the additional challenge of getting people and trains to the right places for services to run.
SWR’s Managing Director, Claire Mann, said:
“We’re sorry to have to ask our customers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary until Sunday 26 June as nationwide RMT strikes are causing major disruption on our network every day this week.
“We know that many people have planned to use our trains for leisure travel this weekend, but Saturday’s strike action means we will be running a very limited service.
“Customers who do travel on Saturday risk being stranded after the network shuts down at 18:30 and should double check their last trains.
“We’re sorry to those whose weekend plans will be hit and thank them for their patience and understanding."
Customers who have to travel are advised to check trains times through National Rail Enquiries.
Passengers are asked to consider avoiding travelling on the first and last trains of each day too, as these services are set to be very busy.