New Three Day Southern Rail Strike Begins
RMT Union members walk out for second week in a row
A new three day strike on Southern Rail services by members of the RMT union has begun after last minute offer by Southern’s owner, Govia Thameslink was rejected.
Last week's strike ended with limited Southern services returned to the West London line on Friday morning. Now there will once again be no service on the line from October 18 - 20.
At the end of last week's strike, Southern again thanked passengers for their patience and guided them to their website for advice on compensation and refunds.
The West London line runs through Hammersmith and Fulham stations Shepherd's Bush, Kensington Olympia, West Brompton and Imperial Wharf and some Southern trains, running from Milton Keynes Central to Clapham Junction serve this line alongside the more numerous Overground trains.
During the summer, this service was cancelled altogether but recently a limited peak hour service has been reinstated, with two trains running in each direction during the morning rush hour and two more in each direction during the afternoon rush hour.
When these trains are not running, passengers are warned that the already very busy local Overground trains are likely to be much busier than usual.
The walkouts are due to a continuing dispute between the uion and Southern's parent company Govia Thameslink over planned changes to the role of conductors on trains.
The company plans to make drivers responsible for closing doors – something that already happens on many services across the country.
The company has claimed that increasing numbers of staff are turning up for work during strikes but this has been denied by the union, which says the action is being solidly supported.
The current strikes are the latest in a series of walkouts, with scheduled over the next two months.
Commuters are reporting that the trains which are running are very overcrowded and journeys are subsequently taking much longer than usual. Southern Rail tickets are being accepted on the Underground and London Overground.
The walkout is due to a continuing dispute between the RMT and Southern's parent company Govia Thameslink over planned changes to the role of conductors on trains, which would result in switching the responsibility for closing train doors to drivers.
October 19, 2016