Stay away from the trains – if you can
Royal Borough: Strike action this weekend prompts plea
Passengers are being urged to only travel if ‘absolutely necessary’ as planned industrial action resumes this weekend.
Both the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will be striking with severe disruption expected for thousands.
Great Western Railway and South Western Railway will be operating reduced timetables culminating at 6.30pm on strike days, which are pencilled in for October 1, 5 and 8.
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.
For GWR passengers, services
will only operate between:
W Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington,
W Reading and Didcot
W Reading and Basingstoke.
SWR passengers will also be affected, with only two trains per hour running from Windsor and Eton Riverside, terminating at Feltham.
This is due to planned £375m Network Rail engineering upgrades on the line.
Due to the impact of the strike day, customers are also urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on Sunday October 2, when the first trains will start much later than usual across the network and are likely to be very busy.
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 if absolutely necessary on Saturday, October 1 and Sunday, October 2. Those needing to travel should seek to do so by other means.
“Large parts of our network will be closed on the strike day 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 as they are likely to be very busy.
“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 that it was encouraging that Transport Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, had met with the union which has been taking industrial action across the summer.
“We welcome this more positive approach from the government to engage with us as a first step to finding a suitable settlement,” he said.
“However, as no new offer has been tabled, our members have no choice but to continue this strike action
“We will continue to negotiate in good faith, but the employers and government need to understand our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes.”
To see how your journey could be affected, visit: ojp. nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search