Rail strikes: How are services in the South affected?

Rail union members are set to walk out for three days this week

Published 21st Jun 2022
Last updated 21st Jun 2022

Thousands of workers on Britain's railways are walking out today in one of the biggest strikes in decades.

RMT members have also backed strike action on Thursday (June 23) and Saturday (June 25) in a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

For some places - including Bournemouth - there are no services at all, with Southampton and Portsmouth badly affected.

Bournemouth is among the stations which won't see any train services on strike days

Talks between the Network Rail, railway operators and unions in an effort to avoid industrial action broke down yesterday.

Operators want to make efficiency savings, especially as fewer passengers are travelling by rail post pandemic, with many more working from home.

Unions argue that their members worked throughout the pandemic but now face job cuts, changes to their working conditions and pay rises well below the rate of inflation following years of wage freezes.

Between 2,000 and 2,500 jobs are believed to be at risk.

The walkouts are expected to cause widespread disruption across the South, although some services will still be running - these are listed below:

South Western Railway

South Western Railway will be running a reduced service on the days of the strikes and is advising passengers not to travel, if possible.

Trains will run between 7.15am and 6.30pm on strike days, and only on some routes.

This includes only four trains per hour between London Waterloo and Woking, and two per hour between London Waterloo and Basingstoke.

Two trains an hour will run between London Waterloo and Southampton Central, which will also call at Eastleigh and Winchester.

No other branch lines will be running, including services to and from Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Weymouth.

Southern

Staff at Southern, which serves Hampshire and Sussex, are not taking part in strike action. However the company will be affected by the walkout of Network Rail staff.

No Southern services will run at all in Hampshire and most in West Sussex face disruption.

There will be two trains an hour running between Brighton and London Victoria, London Bridge, Gatwick Airport and Hove,

Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway will not be running any services on the South Coast line, which calls at Portsmouth and Southampton, on the days of the strikes, with large parts of its network closed due to walkouts at Network Rail.

The Heart of Wessex line from Weymouth will also not run on strike days.

Crosscountry

Crosscountry trains from Manchester will continue to call at Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Winchester stations on strike days, with five services a day between 8.10am and 4.15pm.

However, these services will not stop at Bournemouth.

Island Line

Island Line trains on the Isle of Wight will not be affected by the strike action on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with a normal service running on all days between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin.

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