South Western Railway warns of severe disruption as stations across New Forest and Christchurch set to close on Wednesday due to industrial action by ASLEF

RAIL customers are being warned of severe disruption to travel as industrial action will see stations across the New Forest and Christchurch closed on Wednesday.

South Western Railway (SWR) has confirmed an overtime ban by the ASLEF union, which represents train drivers, will begin on Friday (1st December) and run until 9th December.

While a normal service is planned, there will be with some cancellations due to the ban, with customers advised to check their entire journey before travelling as drivers with other operators may also be taking strike action.

During this this time, the last service on the Lymington branch from Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst will depart at 4.59pm.

After this, a rail replacement bus will run to the usual timetable instead.

The worst of the action is set to be felt during a walkout on Wednesday, which will result in the majority of the network being closed, it added.

On Wednesday trains will only run between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking and Guildford as well as between Basingstoke and Salisbury.

These trains will only operate between 7am and 7pm and there will be no other services, on any lines, outside of these times.

Chief operating officer for South Western Railway, Stuart Meek, 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 6th 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.”

Customers are advised to check their full journey before travelling during these dates due to strike action occurring for other operators.

For more information visit www.southwesternrailway.com/strike