South Western Railway passengers are being deterred from travelling to the coast during the latter part of the week and over the weekend as strike action will see extreme disruption throughout the network.

Passengers who travel with the rail operator are being urged to only travel by train if absolutely necessary during strike action from 18th to 21st of August.

With the potential for fine weather making a trip to the beach look appealing, the rail operator is urging customers to only travel if completely necessary from Thursday the 18th to Sunday the 21st of August with those who do need to travel during the strike days advised to seek alternative means of transport.

The rail operator published its strike day service levels for the 18th and 20th of August last week and offers extremely reduced operations on the routes which Network Rail is able to make available.

The further effects of the strike days also mean that South Western Railway is urging customers to only travel on Friday the 19th and Sunday the 21st if absolutely necessary as trains will start much later than usual right across the network with services anticipated to be extremely busy.

The rail operators reduced timetable will see trains operate from 07:15 to 18:30 for both the 18th and 20th of August and will be made up of:

• Four trains each hour in both directions between London Waterloo and Windsor and Eton Riverside via Hounslow
• Two semi-fast trains each hour in both directions between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
• Four trains each hour in both directions between London Waterloo and Woking
• Two fast trains each hour in both directions between London Waterloo and Southampton Central
• Trains will not stop at all the stations on these routes.
• No South Western Railway services will operate across the rest of the network, with the exception of the Island Line, which is unaffected by strike action.

People who have planned day trips to London are advised to check information regarding the strike action on Transport for London services. London Underground and Overground services will also be impacted by the strike action throughout the day on Friday the 19th of August and some bus services will also see disruption on both Friday the 19th and Saturday the 20th of August. Services connecting to South Western Railway services in London are very likely to be affected or will not be running at all.

SWR’s Commercial Director, Peter Williams, said:

“We know that a combination of sunny weather and school holidays make a day trip to one of the brilliant beaches on our network a tempting prospect. That’s why we’re sorry to have to ask our customers to only travel if absolutely necessary over the forthcoming strike period.

“The scale of the action will be incredibly disruptive for our customers with large parts of our network closed on strike days and a late start-up on the morning after each strike day. First trains will run much later than usual and are likely to be very busy, so if you have to travel, please do so later if you can.

“We are sorry that strikes will again cause such disruption. 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”.

Customers should check the South Western Railway website for the latest information.