SOUTH Western Railway is urging customers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary between August 18 and August 21 due to planned industrial action.

Customers should expect severe disruption on the network and, if they must travel on any of those days, should seek to do so by other means.

SWR has published its strike days service levels for Thursday, August 18 and Saturday, August 20, which will provide a severely reduced service on several routes.

Significant parts of the network will be closed entirely and those trains that are running will be far less frequent and much busier compared to normal.

READ MORE: Picketers protest outside Basingstoke station as part of ongoing rail worker strikes

Due to the impact of the strike days, customers are also urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on Friday, August 19, and Sunday, August 21, when first trains will start much later than usual across the network and are likely to be very busy.

SWR’s reduced timetable will run from 7.15am to 6.30pm on the strike days and will consist of:

  • Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Windsor and Eton Riverside via Hounslow.
  • Two semi-fast trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Basingstoke.
  • Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking.
  • Two fast trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Southampton Central.

Trains will not stop at all stations on these routes.

There will be no SWR services across the rest of the network.

SWR’s commercial director, Peter Williams, said: “Please only travel if absolutely necessary between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 August as strike action will severely impact our services.

SEE ALSO: Weather Forecast: Temperatures soar as Basingstoke prepares for August heatwave

“Those who must travel are urged to carefully check the times of first and last trains and seek alternative means of travel.

“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.”

SWR will not be affected by the planned ASLEF strike action on Saturday, August 13, but some other train companies will be, so customers are encouraged to check before they travel.

The latest information regarding train South Western Railway’s train strikes can be found online at southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/industrial-action.

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