South Western rail staff confirm Christmas period strike action

A month of strikes on one of Britain’s busiest commuter railways, South Western (SWR), has been confirmed after talks to avert the action broke down.

RMT union members will walk out for almost all of December, causing major disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

SWR said it planned to run about half of weekday trains during the strikes, starting from 2 December with reduced services on most routes. It plans to publish detailed strike timetables next week but warned customers to expect more crowded services. RMT members will strike every day of the month apart from 1 December, 12 December – election day – and 25 and 26 December.

Contingency plans include queueing systems to enter stations, along with rail replacement buses, with services to stop running by 11pm each evening. Even fewer trains will run in the final two days before the Christmas break.

SWR serves about 600,000 passenger journeys a day, linking London Waterloo to suburban stops and regions including Hampshire and Surrey.

The union said SWR had not moved in two days of talks at Acas to resolve the long-running dispute over the future role of guards, despite public pledges by the train operator to keep guards on trains

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “Throughout these ‎talks SWR have not shown any intention of moving the issues at the heart of the dispute forwards despite verbal assurances in earlier discussions. It has become increasingly clear that they are not interested in reaching a settlement at this time.”

He said the union would remain available for talks.

An SWR spokesperson said: “We’re very disappointed. Despite promising to keep guards on all our trains and promising that they will have a safety critical role, the talks broke down today. We believe these promises deliver on what the RMT has been asking for, so these strikes are unnecessary.

“We remain committed to finding a solution that works for our customers and we remain open to talks if the RMT decides to reconsider its position.”

Labour’s manifesto, launched on Wednesday, said it would ensure a safety trained guard or crew member on every train, potentially ending the dispute over driver-controlled operation of services.

Prolonged strikes at Southern spread to affect other operators including Northern, Merseyrail and West Midlands Trains.

The RMT has started a series of strikes for seven consecutive Saturdays, running through December on West Midlands, despite the Abellio-run franchise saying it would commit to keeping a guard on every passenger train.