No South Western Railway Services from Guildford on Strike Days

Published on: 20 Jun, 2022
Updated on: 21 Jun, 2022

By Martin Giles

No South Western Railway (SWR) services will operate from Guildford Station during the RMT strike days June 21, 23, 25, according to the rail company’s website. It is urging the public only to travel if “absolutely necessary”.

SWR will run a severely reduced timetable on strike days and significant parts of the network will be closed including the line between Woking and Portsmouth. There are also no Great Western Railway (GWR) services on the Reading-Guildford-Gatwick line.

Those in Guildford wishing to travel by rail to London will have to go to Woking where it is expected that there will be four trains an hour to Waterloo.

Map showing the part of the SWR network on which a limited service will operate during the strike. There will be no services between Woking and Portsmouth.

A limited service will run between 07.15 and 18.30 on some routes for those who have no choice but to travel. SWR will run a late-starting Sunday level of service across the network on June 22, 24 and 26 June and GWR will alos operate services beteen Reading, Guildford and Redhill.

SWR say Network Rail and more than 2,100 SWR RMT members are set to take strike action on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June, causing severe disruption. Network Rail will provide contingency cover for critical roles including electrical control room operators, signallers, maintenance and response teams, but will not be able to cover the whole day.

South Western Railway’s Managing Director, Claire Mann, said: “The sheer scale of this planned industrial action severely limits the number of trains we can run and routes we can serve, which is reflected in the reduced timetable we have published today.

“With this disruption set to be so considerable, I regretfully urge customers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary between Tuesday 21 and Sunday 26 June.

“I am sorry these strikes will cause such disruption and am grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding as the rail industry works to bring this damaging nationwide action to an end.”

Responses to No South Western Railway Services from Guildford on Strike Days

Hilary Minor Reply

June 21, 2022 at 12:28 pm

I would fully expect that people who, in the very recent past, have been able to work from home would do so again during the rail strikes in order to reduce the pressure on the railways. This a situation where working from home is a positive benefit.