Further ASLEF Industrial Action Starts Today – Strike Due Monday

Published on: 4 Apr, 2024
Updated on: 4 Apr, 2024

South Western Railway (SWR) has confirmed its services during the ASLEF union’s industrial action between Thursday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 9.

Strike action on Monday, April 8, will cause the biggest service restrictions but a revised timetable will also be in place on other days in the period across the SWR network.

On Monday, a significantly reduced service will run on a limited number of lines. Rail passengers are advised to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary. Trains will only run between:

Basingstoke and Salisbury
London Waterloo and Basingstoke
London Waterloo and Feltham
London Waterloo and Guildford via Woking*
London Waterloo and Woking*

There will be no trains to stations such as Southampton Central, Portsmouth Harbour, Windsor & Eton Riverside, Reading or Exeter St David’s.

Customers hoping to head to leisure travel destinations on the South Coast including Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth on Monday, April 8, should be aware that no trains will be running to these areas.

There will also be no service on the Isle of Wight’s Island Line.

Trains that are running will only do so between 0700 and 1900. There will be no services outside of these times.

For essential journeys, customers should check journey planners before setting off. Customers should also note that strike action will affect the London Underground network on this date.

Revised timetable

On Thursday April 4, Friday 5, Saturday 6 and Tuesday 9, a revised timetable will operate across the SWR network, due to a ban on overtime working. An hourly service will operate on the Island Line.

While all lines of route will be served on Thursday April 4, Friday 5 and Tuesday 9, customers should check before they travel, as late notice cancellations are possible.

On Saturday, April 6, engineering work will mean line closures in the Andover, Brockenhurst and Staines areas, with further service alterations in addition to a revised timetable. Customers are advised to check before travelling.

Steve Tyler, South Western Railway’s performance and planning director, said: “Industrial action by the ASLEF union will mean only a significantly reduced service will run on Monday, 8 April, so we are asking our customers to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary. For essential journeys, customers should check journey planners before setting off.

“The overtime ban on Thursday April 4, Friday 5, Saturday 6 and Tuesday 9 will mean that timetables will be revised. We are asking our customers to check before they travel, right up until they set off, as alterations on the day are possible.

“We are very sorry for the disruption that this industrial action will cause our customers and are very thankful for their continued patience.”

Strike action will impact train operators on different days during the industrial action period from Thursday April 4 to Tuesday April 9, so customers should ensure they check their whole journey.

Great Western Rail

The strike day for GWR is Saturday, April 6, on which the Reading to Redhill/Gatwick services will not operate.

On other days during the period of industrial action a normal level of service will operate throughout the day, but there will be some short-notice alterations and cancellations.

ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: “Last month, when we announced renewed mandates for industrial action, because, under the Tories’ draconian anti-union laws, we have to ballot our members every six months, we called on the train companies, and the government, to come to the table for meaningful talks to negotiate a new pay deal for train drivers who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.

“Our members voted overwhelmingly – yet again – for strike action. Those votes show – yet again – a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group, which knew that offer would be rejected because a land grab for all the terms and conditions we have negotiated over the years would never be accepted by our members.

“Since then train drivers have voted, time and again, to take action in pursuit of a pay rise. That’s why Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, is being disingenuous when he says that offer should have been put to members. Drivers wouldn’t vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer. They don’t. That offer was dead in the water in April last year – and Mr Harper knows that.”