South Western Railway (SWR) has confirmed that further strikes mean there will be no Island Line service on Friday (1st September).
In addition to the RMT Union strike last Saturday (26th August), members of the ASLEF Union will take strike action on Friday 1st September.
This will be followed by an ASLEF Union ban on overtime working, together with strike action by members of the RMT Union, on Saturday 2nd September although this will not affect Island Line service.
Friday 1st September will be the 1st strike action on the SWR network involving main line drivers. Previous days of ASLEF Union strike action was limited to depot drivers, who bring trains in and out of service.
With a shortage of main line drivers, SWR will run an extremely limited service with the majority of the network closed. Significantly for Isle of Wight residents, there will be no service on the Island Line.
However, a normal service will run on the Island Line on Saturday 2nd September.
Mainland routes will suffer more disruption but journey planners are now up to date and the latest information is available at southwesternrailway.com/strike.
Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
“This is the first time our network has been subject to full strike action by members of the ASLEF Union and, as a result, we are only able to offer an extremely limited service on Friday 1st September.
“Friday 1st September will be different to previous days of strike action with a lot fewer trains running and with the majority of the network closed. Our advice to customers is to not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary. We’re really sorry for the disruption.”
Ivy was right again, start warming up the tar mac
Let’s see how long it takes for the keyboard warrior known as ivy searle /ive searle to pipe up with the usual rubbish of tarmac and no one uses it!
That train ‘service’ is such an absolute joke.
Complete waste of time and money.
200 people per train over the entire weekend would disagree with you, trains were rammed all weekend and after midday the fare was £4 for a return from Shanklin to Ryde esplanade, cheaper if a railcard was used and quicker than a bus by half the time
How’s everyone gonna cope this Friday then? Surprised there aren’t dozens of people commenting about the inconvenience.
Unless ofc Islanders are well used to making alternative plans.
Those trains stop so often that you have to wonder why people bother with them? So its a strike this time eh? Well it makes a change from a flooded line or lack of crew I suppose. What a shambling shower Island line is!
When COVID came along in March 2020 the mostly foreign owned Train Operating Companies (TOCS) said they could no longer run their franchises and handed control back to the Department for Transport (DFT).
The TOCS were bailed out by the government with taxpayers monies mainly going to shareholders abroad – meanwhile the railway employees worked throughout and have not had a pay increase since 2019.
The TOCS cannot negotiate with the railway unions as the DFT is now in control – but they have not been in negotiations since January 2023. However these politicians have had a pay rise each and every year and are now on £86,000pa.
– Don’t be fooled into blaming railway employees for the politicians shortcomings with the railway network.
The average wage for a South Western Railway train driver is around £66,000 per annum. I don’t think there’s many that would argue that that’s not a pretty good wage.
Given the choice I’d probably opt to be a train driver on £66,000 per annum rather than an MP on £86k.
Our drivers are employed as island line, not swr. You are way off the mark. Another keyboard warrior
Well how much are you paid????
You strike prices go up to cover the cost of a barely functional rail line anyway ….
Must be a decent amount if you can afford to strike •°•!!
This is beginning to rival the “non” floating bridge for the title of biggest money wasting transport link, on the island.