New Forest and Christchurch South Western Railway customers advised to check before travelling during ASLEF industrial action 3rd to 8th July

Rail users in the New Forest and Christchurch have been urged to check before travelling during next week’s industrial action.

While the majority of services will run during the Aslef strike Monday to Saturday 3rd to 8th July, there will be a reduced service across the South Western Railway network.

Service levels will typically be reduced to hourly in off-peak periods and a small number of morning and evening peak services will be cancelled.

Journey planners will be updated with the amended timetable through to the end of Friday 7th July on Friday 30th June.

Stuart Meek, chief operating officer at South Western Railway, said: “We’re sorry that customers will again face disruption due to industrial action next week. Anybody planning to travel should please check their whole journey before setting off and be aware that services are likely to be busier than usual.

“Instead of making numerous short-notice amendments and cancellations to our standard timetable, we have decided to provide greater certainty for our customers by creating an amended timetable that we have a high degree of confidence we can reliably and safely deliver each day.”

From Monday 3 to Friday 7 July, there will be a planned closure of the Island Line on the Isle of Wight while Island Line colleagues complete refresher training in preparation for the reopening of the Ryde Pier rail line on Monday 10th July.

The RMT union has also called nationwide strike action for three dates next month: Thursday 20th, Saturday 22nd, and Saturday 29th July. SWR customers should expect severe disruption to train services on these dates and are recommended to change travel plans if possible.

Local services:

Waterloo to Alton: Service reduced to hourly throughout the day. Some services will start and terminate at Farnham

Winchester to Bournemouth/Poole: Service largely as per normal weekday timetable but some services will start and terminate at Bournemouth rather than Poole

Waterloo to Basingstoke and Waterloo to Weymouth: Service largely reduced to hourly throughout the day

Waterloo to Portsmouth via Guildford: Some peak services cancelled, and frequency reduced to an hourly service off-peak calling at all stations

Waterloo to Portsmouth via Eastleigh: Service largely as per normal weekday timetable

Salisbury to Romsey: Service largely as per usual weekday timetable

Waterloo to Salisbury: Service largely as per usual weekday timetable, some cancellations through the day. No shuttle services in the evening between Basingstoke and Salisbury

Portsmouth to Southampton (via Netley): Service largely as per normal weekday timetable