South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary today (Wednesday) due to strike action.

Customers should expect severe disruption and, if they have to travel, should seek to do so by other means. 

SWR has published their strike day service levels, which will provide a very limited service on the routes Network Rail have made available. 

The reduced service levels will see significant parts of the network closed entirely and those trains that are running will be far less frequent compared to normal. There will be no trains running from Axminster station.

Network Rail will provide contingency cover for critical roles including electrical control room operators, signallers, maintenance and response teams, but will not be able to cover the whole day.  

SWR's reduced timetable will run from 07:15 to 18:30 today, and will consist of:   

• Four trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Windsor via Hounslow  
• Two semi-fast trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Basingstoke   
• Four trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Woking  
• Two fast trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Southampton  

Trains will not stop at all stations on these routes. There will be no SWR services across the rest of the network.  

Significant disruption is also expected on Thursday, July 28 when there will be a late-starting service, with first trains operating much later than usual. Customers should check before they travel.  

The RMT has announced further strikes will be taking place on Thursday, August 18 and Saturday 20. SWR will be publishing service level information for this period in due course. 

South Western Railway's Managing Director, Claire Mann, said: "The scale of the planned industrial action limits the number of trains we can run and routes we can serve, resulting in the severely reduced service we are able to operate on the strike day. 

"We urge customers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary on Wednesday 27 July, and to check before you travel on Thursday 28 July, as we will be running a late-starting service due to the disruption of the strike the previous day.  

"We are sorry that strikes will again cause such disruption, and we are grateful to our customers for their continued cooperation, patience, and understanding as the rail industry works to end this damaging nationwide strike action."  

Customers are urged to check the SWR website for latest information at www.southwesternrailway.com/strike