THERE will be no rail service between Dorset and London Waterloo on Wednesday, December 6 due to strike action being taken by train drivers.

Trains will only run elsewhere on the South Western Railway network between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking, Guildford and between Basingstoke and Salisbury.

Trains will only operate on these routes between the hours of 7am and 7pm. There will be no other services, on any lines, outside of these times.

SWR customers are urged to only travel if absolutely necessary on Wednesday, December 6 and to check their entire journey carefully if they must travel.

ASLEF has also instructed its members not to work any overtime which will impact South Western Railway services from Friday, December 1 to Saturday, December 9. 

Customers can now check journey planners for Friday, December 1 to Thursday, December 7.

For Monday, December 4, Tuesday, December 5 and Thursday, December 7, services for the west of England are due to be up to date later in the week.

Train users are told they should check their entire journey before travelling as drivers at other operators may be taking strike action.

Service levels for Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9 are being finalised and will be confirmed in due course.

Stuart Meek, Chief Operating Officer for South Western Railway, 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 6 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.”

On Sunday, December 3, west of England services between London Waterloo and Exeter St David’s, which serve stations in north Dorset, are expected to be extremely busy due to the ASLEF union overtime ban and engineering work between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction.

Services between London Waterloo and Exeter St David’s are being diverted via Westbury, with buses replacing trains between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction, until Sunday 10 December.

Customers seeking alternative travel options should note that Great Western Railway will be running a significantly limited service and will not be running services to Exeter St David’s on this date.

Customers are also reminded that from Sunday, December 10, SWR will begin operating a new timetable.