South Western Railway confirms strike day services on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 September

29.08.2023 - 08:55 / traveldailynews.com / Vicky Karantzavelou

Customers are advised to only travel if absolutely necessary on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 September

South Western Railway (SWR) has confirmed its strike day services for Friday 1 and Saturday 2 September.

In addition to RMT Union strike action taking place tomorrow, Saturday 26 August, members of the ASLEF Union will take strike action on Friday 1 September.

This will be followed by an ASLEF Union ban on overtime working, together with strike action by members of the RMT Union, on Saturday 2 September.

Friday 1 September will be the first strike action on the SWR network involving main line drivers. Previous days of ASLEF Union strike action was limited to depot drivers, who bring trains in and out  of service.

With a shortage of main line drivers, SWR will run an extremely limited service with the majority of the network closed. Customers are advised that there will be fewer trains than on previous strike days. Trains will only run between the hours of 0700 and 1900 as follows:

There will be no service on the Island Line.

On Saturday 2 September, a significantly reduced service will operate on a limited number of lines. Large parts of the network will be closed. Trains will only run between the hours of 0700 and 1900 as follows:

A normal service will run on the Island Line.

For both Friday 1 and Saturday 2 September, SWR is advising customers to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary.

Journey planners are now up to date and the latest information is available at southwesternrailway.com/strike.

If customers must travel, they should check their entire journey as other train operators will be affected on both days of strike action.

Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “This is the first time our network has been subject to full strike action by members of the ASLEF Union and, as a result, we are only able to offer an extremely limited service on Friday 1 September.

“Friday 1 September will be different to previous days of strike action with a lot fewer trains running and with the majority of the network closed. Our advice to customers is to not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary. The few services we will be running are likely to be extremely busy and we may have to use queuing systems and crowd control measures.

“A significantly reduced service will operate the following day, Saturday 2 September, with more lines open but with large parts of the network still closed. Trains will only run between 0700 and 1900 and so our advice, again, is to only travel if journeys are absolutely necessary.

“If customers must travel on either day, they should check their entire journey before travelling, with other operators also impacted by strike action.