New Year's Eve Train Strike Looks Set To Proceed
But South Western Railway laying on celebration rail service
RMT members demonstrate
South Western Railway (SWR) are warning that there will be a reduced service on 31 December due to another day of industrial action by the RMT union.
Following on from strikes on 22 and 27 December, there will be disruption on New Year's Eve however, after midnight, a special celebration service is being laid on from Waterloo for revellers seeing in the new year in central London. (See timetable below).
On the 31 December SWR are planning to run to a Saturday timetable and hope to continue to run services on most suburban lines including the Hounslow Loop which serves Chiswick and Brentford.
Accusing the rail company of ‘appalling harassment’ of its members, RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash said, “This latest phase of action in the long-running dispute on South Western Railway comes solely as a result of the companies intransigence when it comes to reaching a negotiated settlement that would underpin the guard guarantee on their trains.”
A SWR spokesperson said, “The RMT continues to play politics with their ongoing strike action, causing misery at a time when people just want to be with friends and family or get to work. If the union really cares about passengers it should call off these strikes and start helping to build a better railway.
"We have guaranteed to roster a guard on every train - we are employing more, not fewer guards. We remain focused on running services and delivering the improvements our customers deserve including investing £1.2billion over the course of the franchise.
"We will do everything we can to keep customers moving and reduce disruption whenever the RMT strikes.”
SWR are providing live updates on services during strikes. There is a page for updates specifically on New Year's Eve.
December 28, 2018