Island Line trains will be suspended this coming Friday due to strike action by ASLEF, with a number of journey cancellations also expected throughout this week and next.
Nationwide industrial action on 12th May will this time affect train drivers on Island Line, whereas in other recent strikes the local service has been largely unhindered.
It has been confirmed by South Western Railway that there will be no Island Line services between Ryde and Shanklin all day on Friday, with a reduced service on Saturday.
Due to a shortage of train crew, there is a reduced timetable in operation on Island Line today – and this is expected to continue all week. A number of journeys later in the afternoon and in the evening have been cancelled.
From next Monday (15th May) until Saturday 20th May, there is a ban on overtime as part of the industrial action. This means that a reduced service will also operate on Island Line next week.
Further strike action is planned for 31st May and 3rd June, which is expected to impact Island Line services once again.
Claire Mann, SWR’s Managing Director, has said:
“I’m sorry to say that due to nationwide industrial action by the RMT and ASLEF unions we will be forced to make changes to our services on three sets of dates in May.
Article continues below this advertisement “We will confirm our services for Friday 12 May as soon as possible and we appreciate our customers’ patience while we do so. In recent weeks we have been exceptionally busy preparing for the Coronation and are now focused on providing timetables that our customers can have confidence in. For Friday 12 May we are asking customers to check before travelling, with the latest information available at southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey.
“For Saturday 13 we are advising customers to only travel if their journeys are absolutely necessary, with a significantly reduced service on a limited number of lines. Following their fantastic efforts on Saturday for the Coronation, we are proud to again support both the Army and Royal Navy with extra services for their historic rugby fixture at Twickenham.
“Between Monday 15 and Saturday 20 May we intend to run a full timetable, but we are warning customers that in the event of disruption on the network, short notice delays and cancellations are possible. Our advice is to check before travelling and again, we will confirm our train service as soon as possible, with the latest information on our website.”
I don’t suppose anyone will notice, after all it does not run down the pier so what use is it.
It gets my kids to school and back every day.
Speaking to the staff on my daily commute, I’ve learned that their last payrise was in 2019. That’s totally unacceptable. Covid gets the blame for this, but MPs only had a pay freeze for 1 year. Good old tory government and DfT
What you do not say is that the drivers get paid over 50K a year for a basic week with huge overtime payments, same with the station staff ,28K plus for a 35 hour week, where else would totally unqualified people get that sort of money.
Please do provide evidence for your claims
I have family who work as station staff, and I can assure you they don’t get 28k. They were a supervisor of a mainline station. And even with overtime they would not get that. Also to confirm. Its true that they have not had a pay rise since 2019.
I suspect there’s no figures available for a specific line on the South Western Railway network, but I’d be amazed if Island Line is making a profit. In fact, I’d guess it’s running at a hefty loss each year.
Assuming that’s true, then it’s very difficult to understand train drivers on the Island striking to be paid more, especially as the average pay for a driver is around the £57,000 per annum mark already. For most people, that’s a pretty good salary.
Drivers are well short of the figure that you quote. Islandline performance is put on swr suburban services, saving swr millions in fines each year
Shame. I had planned to spend the day riding the line from one end to the other and soaking up the atmosphere…..or something.