Waterloo station in London during a strike by members of the RMT
(Picture: PA Wire)Commuters are being urged to “avoid the last trains out of London” this week as the transport network is being crippled by strikes.
South Western Railway has issued the plea to avoid overcrowding on the final services to leave London Waterloo.
“On January 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, last trains will depart much earlier than usual,” it tweeted.
“Last trains from London Waterloo are likely to be very busy. Please avoid them if you can.”
SWR added: “If you must travel, check your journey using a journey planner, close to the time of travel.”
⚠️ On January 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, last trains will depart much earlier than usual.
— SWR Help (@SW_Help) January 4, 2023
Last trains from London Waterloo are likely to be very busy. Please avoid them if you can.
If you must travel, check your journey using a journey planner, close to the time of travel. pic.twitter.com/UoaINPnjie
It highlighted some last trains out of Waterloo including to Basingstoke, leaving at 5.45pm, to Woking 5.50pm, to Windor & Eton Riverside at 5.22pm and to Southampton Central at 5pm.
The last train on Wednesday for Surbiton leaves at 5.50pm, as it does for Wimbledon, and Winchester.
Services are not running on strike days to a string of stations including some major ones such as Guildford.
Even on non-strike days, services have previously not been stopping at dozens of stations on the SWR network due to an overtime ban, leading to a shortage of shunters to move trains out of depots, as well as guards.
On Wednesday, around half of Britain’s railway lines were closed and only a fifth of services were running as tens of thousands of workers at Network Rail and train operators walked out on the second day of a 48-hour strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union.
The train drivers’ union Aslef is striking on Thursday, before another 48-hour walk-out by the RMT starting on Friday.
