Rail fail: South Western services still hampered despite temporary election halt to RMT strike
Commuters were left angry this morning as South Western Railway services remained on partial timetables, despite rail strikes being temporarily called off for election day.
The 27-day rail strike called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Union has caused chaos for the first 11 days of December, but industrial action was due to pause today because of the General Election.
Read more: Train companies to hike rail fares as commuters brace for strike chaos
However, South Western has admitted it was not able to organise a return to normal service today, causing another day of misery for Londoners.
The rail company said: “An amended timetable is in place tomorrow (the 12th of December) as there is not enough time between two strike days to reinstate a full service.”
But commuters were not impressed by the lack of service.
Kimberlee Robertson, a Twitter user, said: “Hang on… WHAT?! This was going to be the best part about having an election.”
Another, with the username NC, added: “So there’s no #SWRstrike today but also no trains … A great advert for a change in transport policy”.
A spokesperson for South Western said: “The rail network requires enough trains to be in the right locations to run a full service.
“Given the first phase of the RMT strike ends the day before and re-commences the day after, we will not have time to move the trains in order to operate a normal timetable on the 12th of December.
“As a result, the amended timetable will continue to run and this is available on our website.
“We are doing everything we can to deliver a consistent service and ensure we get as many customers moving as possible on Thursday.”
Read more: Commuter chaos continues as London rail strike standoff enters second day
South Western serves on average 600,000 passenger journeys every day travelling to and from Waterloo, Britain’s busiest railway station. Trains run to regions such as Surrey and Hampshire, but even go as far as Exeter.
RMT’s demands centre around the role of the train guard, and whether they have control over operating carriage doors. The union said this is important to help keep passengers safe when boarding and alighting the train.
Main image: Getty