Updated: South West Railways RMT Suspend Strike Action

Published on: 4 Nov, 2022
Updated on: 4 Nov, 2022

Breaking News – Please see BBC Article

Train strikes: Series of walkouts from Saturday suspended

South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary from tomorrow November 5 to Thursday, November 10 due to the planned RMT industrial action.

This includes a strike day for Guy Fawkes Night on Saturday, when the last trains will depart at around 5pm and customers risk getting stranded if they do not have other means of getting home.

SWR has published its strike day service levels for Saturday, and on Monday November 7, and Wednesday November 9, which will provide a severely reduced service on the routes Network Rail has made available.

Significant parts of the network will be closed entirely and those trains that are running will be far less frequent and much busier compared to normal.

Due to the impact of the strike days, customers are also urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on Sunday November 6, Tuesday November 8, and Thursday November 10, when first trains will start much later than usual across the network and are likely to be very busy.

SWR’s reduced timetable will run from 7.15am to 6.30pm on the strike days and will include four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking, the nearest operating station to Guildford.

Trains will not stop at all the stations on these routes. There will be no SWR services across most of the network.

South Western Railway’s Performance and Planning Director, Steve Tyler, said: “I’m sorry that due to strike action we must urge our customers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary from Saturday 5 to Thursday 10 November.

“Large parts of our network will be closed on strike days and there will be a late start-up on the morning after. Those who must travel are urged to carefully check the times of first and last trains and avoid them if possible.

“We appreciate that customers will be eager to enjoy the fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night, but last trains for the day will depart early at around 1700 and will be very busy. Please check train times carefully to avoid getting stranded as the network will be shut for the rest of the evening.

“We are grateful to our customers for their continued cooperation, patience, and understanding as the rail industry works to bring this damaging nationwide strike action to an end.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our focus in this dispute is the rail employers who have yet to make an offer that will create the conditions for a negotiated settlement.