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The 38 Surrey stations with no trains due to strike action and …

Strike action on Wednesday (December 6) means 38 train stations in Surrey will be left without SWR services, including Leatherhead[1], Dorking[2], and Staines[3]. It comes in the middle of a nine-day period of “extremely limited service” due to industrial action as well as emergency work to repair a landslip near Woking[4].

An ASLEF overtime ban is in place from Friday, December 1 to Tuesday, December 5. ASLEF strike action will take place on Wednesday, December 6, before the overtime ban returns from Thursday, December 7 to Saturday, December 9.

SWR confirmed a normal service is planned on days with an overtime ban in place but said there will likely be “some cancellations”. Passengers were also urged to check journeys before they travel because drivers at other operators may be taking strike action.

South Western Railway[7] bosses warned this round of industrial action will see ASLEF members for different train operators strike on different days, unlike previous rounds. Drivers at Southern, Gatwick Express, and Southeastern are set to also strike on December 6.

Chief Operating Officer for South Western Railway, Stuart Meek, apologised and said: “We’re sorry that national industrial action will again impact SWR services for the first nine days of December.” He said: “ASLEF will take strike action on Wednesday, December 6, meaning we will run an extremely limited service, and we must urge our customers to only travel is absolutely necessary on that day.”

He continued: “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.” He added: “We know that this is a busy time of the year as we approach Christmas[8], so we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding.”

Trains will only run between London Waterloo to Woking and Guildford[9] on December 6. They will also continue on to Basingstoke and run from London to Feltham. Trains on these routes, however, will only operate between 7am and 7pm. A SWR spokesperson said: “There will be no other services, on any lines, outside of these times.”

Trains will run four time per hour between London Waterloo and Woking, and once per hour from Waterloo to Guildford via Woking. SurreyLive[10] has listed every station in the county that will have no SWR services on Wednesday (December 6). Further information on emergency landslip repairs can be found below or is linked here.

Stations with no SWR services on Wednesday, December 6


A network map shows the Surrey Stations with no SWR services on Wednesday (December 6)

  • Stoneleigh

  • Ewell West

  • Epsom

  • Ashtead

  • Leatherhead

  • Box Hill and Westhumble

  • Dorking

  • Bookham

  • Effingham Junction

  • Horsley

  • Clandon

  • London Road (Guildford)

  • Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon

  • Oxshott

  • Claygate

  • Hinchley Wood

  • Wanborough

  • Ash

  • Ash Vale

  • Farnham

  • Frimley

  • Camberley

  • Bagshot

  • Addlestone

  • Chertsey

  • Virginia Water

  • Egham

  • Staines

  • Ashford

  • Shepperton

  • Upper Halliford

  • Sunbury

  • Thames Ditton

  • Farncombe

  • Godalming

  • Milford

  • Witley

  • Haslemere

‘Severely reduced services’ as emergency work needed to repair landslip

An ariel shot of the cracks
A bird’s eye view shows the cracks between Brookwood and Woking, said to be a metre deep in places

Geotechnical and structures experts for Network Rail discovered a 45-metre-long crack in a slope next to the St John’s Hill Road overbridge between Brookwood and Woking. A 20mph speed restriction has been introduced as a result to keep customers safe and enable services to continue in the area. The crack is said to be 50cm wide and up to a metre deep in places.

A Network Rail spokesperson announced a decision has been taken proactively with SWR to close part of the railway to stabilise the area and prevent further disruption and a potentially dangerous landslip. The company said this is “highly likely” if action is not taken with cold and wet weather forecast.

A worksite will be prepared at the weekend before engineers are due to work around the clock from Wednesday to Sunday (December 6 to 10) to fix the issue. The partial closure will see the line reduced from four tracks to two but has been timed to coincide with reduced services due to industrial action.

Network Rail Wessex’s route director, Matt Pocock, said: “There is never a good time to close any part of the railway but the safety of our customers and railway colleagues is our number one priority. It’s imperative that we act now to prevent any further landslip, which would cause even longer delays.”

He added: “We have worked closely with our colleagues at SWR to identify the least disruptive time to do this and next week provides an opportunity with industrial action reducing the number of services that will be in operation. However, unfortunately there will be severely reduced services as a result.

Information on SWR journeys can be found here[11].

Get more news from SurreyLive straight to your inbox for free HERE.[12]

References

  1. ^ Leatherhead (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  2. ^ Dorking (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  3. ^ Staines (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  4. ^ Woking (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  5. ^ ‘Invasive’ Japanese Knotweed discovered at three areas of M25 Wisley Interchange roadworks (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  6. ^ Two Surrey schools named The Sunday Times’ best in the UK (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  7. ^ South Western Railway (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  8. ^ Christmas (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  9. ^ Guildford (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  10. ^ SurreyLive (www.getsurrey.co.uk)
  11. ^ here (www.southwesternrailway.com)
  12. ^ HERE. (www.getsurrey.co.uk)

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