Hampshire train strikes announced across December with Portsmouth trains to halt as ASLEF workers take industrial action

The ASLEF union, which represents train drivers, will take industrial action from Friday 1 to Saturday 9 December, with SWR drivers taking strike action on Wednesday 6 December – and Portsmouth passengers will not be served. On Wednesday 6 December, there will be an extremely limited service, with trains only running between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking, Guildford and between Basingstoke and Salisbury.

Trains will only operate on these routes between 7.00am and 7.00pm. There will be no other services, on any lines, outside of these times.

NOW READ: Cosham Christmas light switch-on party cancelled due to weather safety fears

Stuart Meek, Chief Operating Officer for South Western Railway, said: “We’re sorry that national industrial action will again impact SWR services for the first nine days of December. ASLEF will take strike action on Wednesday 6 December, meaning we will run an extremely limited service, and we must urge our customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on that day.

“During other days of industrial action, customers should check their entire journeys before setting off, as there will be some cancellations and drivers at other operators may be on strike. We know that this is a busy time of year as we approach Christmas, so we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding.”

There will be no service on the Island Line and customers in areas such as Bournemouth, Exeter, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Staines, Windsor and Yeovil will not be served by SWR trains on Wednesday 6 December.

SWR customers are urged to only travel if absolutely necessary on Wednesday 6 December and to check their entire journey carefully if they must travel.

Unlike previous rounds of ASLEF industrial action, the union will be striking on different days for different train operators across the industrial action period.

NOW READ: When it will snow in Portsmouth area

Drivers at Southeastern, Gatwick Express and Southern will also take strike action on Wednesday 6 December, with others taking strike action on other days, which may impact connections with other operators’ services.

Throughout the nine-day period, ASLEF has also instructed its members not to work any overtime, which will affect SWR from Friday 1 to Tuesday 5 and from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 December.

While SWR will be running a normal timetable on most of its network from Friday 1 to Tuesday 5 and on Thursday 7 December, there will be some cancellations. Customers are advised to check their full journey before travelling during these dates due to strike action occurring for other operators.

Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, said: ‘We are going on strike again not to inconvenience passengers, but to express our disgust at the intransigence of this government, and the bad faith shown by the private companies which employ us.

You can find the latest train service details on the SWR website.