Southern plans normal service on most routes during strikes

Southern is planning to run a normal service on most of its routes during a rail strike planned in early September.
A Southern Rail trainA Southern Rail train
A Southern Rail train

The RMT union has organised walkouts on Friday September 1 and Monday September 4 as part of its long running dispute with Govia Thameslink Railway over driver-only trains.

Changes made drivers responsible for opening and closing train doors, with the union raising safety concerns about the potential loss of a second safety-critical member of staff.

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The rail operator is expecting to run a normal service on most routes, but trains on the Coastway route and between Hastings and Ashford International are expected to be affected.

Angie Doll, Southern’s passenger services director, said: “We plan to run more than 90% of our services during the RMT conductors strike on Friday and Monday but ask passengers to check before they travel.

“Passenger numbers have doubled in the past two decades giving us the most congested network in the country so we simply have to modernise the way we do things to keep people moving.

“We ask the RMT to reconsider the very good offers we have made, including job guarantees, and work with us to future-proof services for our passengers - most of whom simply want to get to their place of work each day.”

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Southern and Gatwick Express run more than 2,200 services on a non-strike day and most services will operate to the normal timetable.

Gatwick Express will operate a full service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport / Brighton.

Thameslink will also run a full service between London Blackfriars / London Bridge and Brighton.

A full Southern service will run except for those trains listed below:

- West London line services will not operate

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- A number of services on other routes (predominantly Coastway services) will not operate

- Some peak hour services between Ashford International and Hastings will not run

- The four trains a day that run in each direction between Leatherhead and Guildford will not run

Full details of service changes can be found on Southern’s website.

Passengers can claim compensation if they are delayed by 15 minutes or more here.