Thousands of travellers will be affected by strikes on South Western Railway routes, and London tube – Central and Waterloo and City lines this weekend, after talks broke down between chiefs and railway workers.
Travellers will face problems across three major rail journey routes, as a 24 hour tube strike and a strike across South Western Railway services by RMT train guards takes place.
When are the strikes taking place, and which services are affected?
Tube:
The Waterloo and City line will be affected on Friday 5th October.
The Central line will be affected on Friday 5th October, until mid-morning on Saturday 6th.
You can check the TFL status update page to quickly check each tube line: https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/
South Western Railway:
South Western Railway routes will be affected on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th October:
South West London (Mainline Suburban)
South West London (Richmond, Brentford, Windsor and Reading)
Weymouth, Bournemouth, and Southampton to London Waterloo
Exeter St Davids, Bristol Temple Meads and Salisbury to London Waterloo
Salisbury to Romsey via Southampton Central
Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo via Guildford
Alton, Basingstoke and Woking to London Waterloo
Portsmouth to Southampton and Eastleigh
Guildford to Ascot
Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier
Please check the RMT Industrial Action page on South Western Railway for more information.
Tube Strike – More information
The London tube strike will be taking place Friday 5 October 2018, between 0001 Hours and 2359 Hours.
Alternative transport
TFL has said they will be running extra buses during the strike. Buses are always likely to be busy during strike time, so it is advisable to allow more time for your journey.
Between Epping and Chingford, a non-stop bus shuttle service will be operating about every 10-20 minutes connecting travellers to London overground services.
Alternative Routes
On the TFL website, TFL claim that “Buses, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail will accept Tube single and return tickets and National Rail cross-London tickets on reasonable alternative routes.”
Can I get a refund?
TFL say that in general, refunds will not be issued to customers.
Please check the TFL website for all official information on the tube strike: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-strike
You can also check the TFL status update page to quickly check each tube line:
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/
South Western Railway strike: more information
Friday – Routes affected
See the map below for routes affected on Friday 5th October.
You can download a detailed PDF map here.
Saturday – Routes affected
See the map below for routes affected on Saturday 6th October.
You can download a detailed PDF map here.
Alternative Routes
SWR says on its website: “If you hold a monthly or longer season ticket your ticket may be used from/to another station on the same line of route as the original ticket. This only applies to SWR services.
However, if you’re travelling from Shepperton, Upper Halliford or Sunbury, you can use your ticket to travel from Walton-on-Thames. Your ticket can be used on Hallmark Coaches route 555 between Shepperton and Walton-on-Thames, and on route 557 from Sunbury.
Can I get a refund?
South Western Railway offer compensation to travellers whose journey are delayed by longer than 15 minutes via their Delay Repay scheme.
Why are strikes taking place?
South Western Railway
Members of the RMT union are taking industrial action over a dispute regarding the future career prospects of guards on trains. The RMT claims the role of guards is still crucial for the safety of passengers, however SWR are moving to implement driver-only train services.
The RMT has released a statement stating it is “angry and frustrated that South Western Railway have failed to respond seriously to a union call for talks around the guard guarantee on their trains”.
RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash, said: “There’s a simple solution to this dispute and it means SWR stop playing with words and negotiate the guard guarantee that reflects the best safety practice elsewhere in the industry.”
Tube
over a range of issues on the Central line – used by over 800,000 passengers a day – including the “imposition” of unsafe working practices. Last-ditch talks between Aslef and tube chiefs and railway workers yesterday failed to prevent the strike action.
Future disruptions – South Western Railway
Engineering work is taking place on some SWR lines, and from Sunday a revised timetable – meaning longer journeys on some routes – will come into force to deal with leaves-on-the-line.
