Train strike January 2018: South Western Railways passengers left facing week of chaos as talks break down

Dick Murray4 January 2018

Hundreds of thousands of rail passengers were today left not knowing until the last minute if they will have a train service next week.

Talks to try and avert three days of strikes – next Monday, Wednesday and Friday – on South Western Railways (SWR), the largest franchise in the UK serving all routes to and from Waterloo, broke up yesterday without agreement.

The RMT, which has ordered the strikes, besides others on Southern, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and Northern Rail, in long running disputes over changes to the duties of train guards, and SWR are now both “considering their positions”.

A walkout by SWR guards will axe more than 1,200 trains next week, including peak time services, throwing commuters and London’s business sector into disarray.

SWR carries more than 300,000 passengers a day – 100,000 of those using Waterloo. It operates more than 1,700 trains a day – but the strikes are forecast to cut the number by 25 per cent, up to 450 a day.

A spokesman said: “We were pleased that the RMT agreed to meet with us to try and resolve the dispute.

“It was an amicable meeting and they suggested some amendments to a framework agreement we had previously suggested to them in the hope of finding a way forward. We are considering our position and will respond to them in due course.”

Mick Cash, the RMT leader, said: “We set out the union’s position during those talks and we now await a formal response from the company.”

SWR was today preparing an emergency timetable detailing which services will and will not run if the strikes go ahead.

Some routes, including those serving Bagshot, Camberley, Frimley, Chertsey and Addlestone, will not have any train service at all.

Services will be reduced, or replaced by buses, in many other areas.

The RMT say driver-only operation (DOO) with the driver taking over responsibility for the train doors and other duties from the guard, is unsafe – claims robustly denied by the rail industry which highlights its safe use across large parts of the UK.

The union is demanding “assurances” from the rail companies with which it is in dispute, that no train will operate without two qualified members of staff on board.

Rail bosses, however, say they must have leeway – for the sake of passengers and maintaining a service – to operate a train in “exceptional circumstances” if a guard, or on-board supervisor, is not available.

The RMT today confirmed three days of strikes will go ahead next week at Northern Rail after last ditch peace talks broke down.

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