trains

South Western Railway reminds customers of reduced timetable

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Fri, 08/04/2023 - 3:38pm

SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) is reminding customers of industrial action next week, Monday 7 to Saturday 12 August.

A ban on overtime working by the ASLEF union will mean that a reduced timetable, similar to this week’s timetable (Monday 31 July to Saturday 5 August), will operate.

A normal service will operate on Sunday 6 August , however, buses will replace trains between Barnes and Feltham via Hounslow due to engineering work. A small number of train services will also be cancelled due to industrial action the day before. Customers are advised to check before...

Marsh Barton station opens

Seven years after it should have welcomed passengers, Marsh Barton’s long-awaited new £16 million train station has been formally opened by the transport secretary.

Regular services will call at the station, which serves the city’s largest trading estate, from Tuesday. A new cycle and pedestrian bridge is part of the project.

Trains were initially due to call at Marsh Barton from December 2016, but setbacks, including spiralling costs and protracted discussions with the rail industry, led to considerable delays.

Transport secretary Mark Harper says it will...

South Western Railway announces strike services for Thursday 16 and Saturday 18 March

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Fri, 03/10/2023 - 3:57pm

SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on Thursday 16 and Saturday 18 March due to planned RMT industrial action.

While Network Rail strike action has been called off, strike action by SWR (and other train operator) RMT members will still take place, severely reducing the number of services that SWR can operate.

With 40% of the overall workforce eligible to strike, including guards, dispatchers and depot shunters, SWR’s contingency managers will only be able to cover a limited number of services between 0700 and 1830 on...

South Western Railway trials cutting-edge AI technology to improve accessibility

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Mon, 02/13/2023 - 8:06am

Britain’s busiest station, London Waterloo, is trialling Artificial Intelligence that provides train information through British Sign Language (BSL).

Travellers who are deaf or have hearing loss often struggle to hear station announcements and communicate with staff, which can make it harder to plan and carry out journeys.

The new Artificial Intelligence technology being trialled by South Western Railway (SWR) translates live journey information into BSL, which is displayed through a friendly figure on digital totem screens, making it more inclusive.

The project...

train tracks, railway, landslide, broken track

SWR sets out weekend train services following major landslide

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Thu, 01/19/2023 - 3:54pm

SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) has set out its service plan for the rest of this week and weekend, following the major landslip in the Hook area, which has severely reduced the number of trains that can safely run between Basingstoke and Woking.

The landslip has left a 44-metre stretch of track suspended in mid-air, resulting in a severely restricted service between Basingstoke and Woking and no through trains to London Waterloo from Exeter St Davids, Salisbury, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Southampton Central, Winchester and Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh.

While the permanent...

SWR restores full timetable between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 11/16/2022 - 9:11am

FOLLOWING two months of fewer trains – and reduced speeds – services on the West of England line return to normal between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids today.

Speed restrictions of 40mph had been in place near Tisbury, Gillingham and Axminster, as the clay-based track bed shrank in the record-breaking hot and dry summer, leaving the rails uneven and too bumpy for trains to run at full speed.

Diligent work by engineers has restored track levels, helped by cooler temperatures and regular rain which has stopped the track bed shrinking, allowing the speed restrictions to be...

Pinhoe Rail Station enhancements boost convenience

A series of improvements have opened at Pinhoe rail station to better integrate rail with other sustainable transport options.

The station now has a new northern car park with 14 parking spaces, with some electric vehicle charging points (which should go live by the end of this month) and two additional designated disabled bays.

It also has 12 secure cycle lockers which can be rented (see more details on the Travel Devon webpages ). The southern car park features an electric Co Bikes station, enabling people to make the most of the cycle links through quiet residential...

Free train travel for forces personnel and veterans on Remembrance Sunday

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Fri, 11/04/2022 - 8:37pm

Serving military personnel and veterans attending local Remembrance Sunday events on Sunday 13th November can, once again, travel for free on all South Western Railway (SWR) services.

Serving personnel travelling to the Submariners’ Remembrance Service on Sunday 6th November or the main national commemoration at the Cenotaph in London on Sunday 13th will additionally be able to travel on any London bound SWR service for free on the day before the service, returning from London on the Sunday.

Note: there will be limited SWR services on Saturday 5thNovember due to...

SWR announces 1st October strike service levels

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Thu, 09/22/2022 - 8:46pm

South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October due to the planned RMT and TSSA industrial action.

Customers should expect severe disruption on the network and, if they must travel on either of those days, should seek to do so by other means.

SWR has published its strike day service levels for Saturday 1 October, which will provide a severely reduced service on the routes Network Rail has made available.

Significant parts of the network will be closed entirely and those trains that...

Temporary reduced timetable for West of England Line from Monday

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Fri, 09/02/2022 - 10:24pm

From Monday 5 September, South Western Railway (SWR) will be introducing a temporary reduced timetable on the West of England line.

This revised timetable will enable SWR to operate a resilient service for customers after an Emergency Speed Restriction was put in place between Gillingham in Dorset and Tisbury in Wiltshire by Network Rail engineers.

The extremely hot and dry weather experienced recently has caused the clay embankments to dry out and shrink - leaving the track on top uneven and trains unable to travel at full speed.

Train services have had to be...

Pages