South Western Railway services to close early in December amid strikes
Christmas parties across London will be scuppered next month, as late night train services face the chop amid 27 days of rail strikes.
The strike, which begins next Monday, is on course to be the worst ever in the capital city, and will hit all services which run in and out of Waterloo, the busiest station in the country.
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Thousands more journeys than originally planned are to be cancelled in the industrial action by South Western Railway train staff.
Drivers and guards will strike from 2 December until the New Year, only stopping for a brief period around the General Election on 12 December and for Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when trains do not run anyway.
Announcing its timetable for the month, South Western said many services will cease running at 11pm, posing problems for people trying to get home from Christmas parties.
The operator usually uses so-called contingency guards to staff its trains during strikes, who have been trained specifically to work on passenger services, as well as non-striking guards.
However, the strike is wider than usual, meaning this could be less effective throughout December.
Between Monday and Friday, South Western expects to run just over half of the normal 1,800-service schedule of trains, “prioritising capacity during peak periods”.
It will use longer trains to maximise capacity.
However, it adds: “Peak services will be much busier than normal and we may have to introduce queuing at a number of our busiest stations.”
South Western serves on average 600,000 passenger journeys every day. Trains run to regions such as Surrey and Hampshire, but even go as far as Exeter.
What South Western Railway said
“We know this strike will make travelling more difficult and services will be busier than normal. We share your frustration and want you to know we’re doing everything possible to keep customers moving during this unnecessary RMT strike action.
“We plan to run more than half of our normal Monday-Friday services and will provide longer trains in order to increase capacity wherever possible. Customers can expect a similar number of peak services to previous strikes. However, they should be aware that last services will be earlier than normal.
“We encourage customers to check our website southwesternrailway.com/strike for the latest travel information.
“Our train planners are now working hard on the weekend and festive period timetables. Details will be updated on our website and via @SW_Help.”
A South Western Railway spokesperson
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What are the strikes about?
The strikes were called earlier this month, when the union accused South Western of failing to give assurances that train guards will be kept on under a new operational model.
The union said every train needs a guard as well as a driver, but added South Western has refused to give it the assurances it wants that this will be the case in the coming years.
RMT said the guard is important to help disabled people onto trains and to help keep passengers safe.
However, South Western said it has promised to keep guards on all its trains.
Negotiations had restarted under the auspices of conciliation service Acas last week, but ended within days.
Despite the fact members of South Western’s executive team were in the room negotiating with RMT, a source close to the union told City PM South Western’s negotiators were “not the ones making the decisions”, causing a breakdown in communication.
Thames Clippers increases capacity
Meanwhile, Thames Clippers boats will next month offer commuters an alternative to the striking rail services.
The river bus will ramp up its capacity in December on its RB6 boat from Putney to Canary Wharf, during morning commute hours, giving south west Londoners an alternative route to work.
The company said: “Avoid the crowds and commute in style, taking advantage of a guaranteed comfortable seat, a heated cabin, views of the city and an on-board bar to purchase refreshments and beverages with which to start and end the workday.”