South Western Railway strike: Workers to walkout on New Year's Eve

Commuters at Waterloo station during disruption following a trackside fire earlier this week
Nigel Howard
Hatty Collier13 December 2017

South Western Railway workers are to strike on New Year's Eve, the RMT union has said.

The walkout is the latest action taken by RMT union members in a dispute over the role of guards on trains.

They will strike for 24 hours on December 31.

South Western Railway runs services to and from London Waterloo - the UK's busiest rail station.

Workers on Greater Anglia will also strike on December 27, the RMT union said.

Both rail companies are embroiled in bitter disputes with the union over the role of guards on trains.

The union revealed that it had met Transport Secretary Chris Grayling in a bid to resolve the disputes affecting five rail operators, but said there were "contradictory messages and confusion" from the minister and his department.

A South Western Railway spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed that the RMT executive has decided to inflict more disruption on our passengers by calling more unnecessary industrial action, especially when so many people need to travel to be with friends and family for the New Year celebrations.

"We have repeatedly assured the RMT that we plan to keep guards on our trains. We will put in place contingency plans to keep passengers moving should this strike go ahead."

Richard Dean, train service delivery director at Greater Anglia, said: "We are obviously disappointed with the announcement today.

"We are hoping to resolve this dispute through discussions with RMT union officials.

"Prior to today's announcement, we had arranged talks with the RMT for tomorrow. We will be going ahead with those talks as planned.

"There is already a revised Christmas service in place on December 27, along with alterations due to engineering works.

"We will be aiming to run that revised service, but will confirm full details nearer the time. Customers are advised to check before they travel using the Greater Anglia website or app.

"We value our conductors highly. We have guaranteed their jobs until the end of the franchise in October 2025.

"In fact, we will be recruiting additional conductors, as we are replacing all of our trains with brand new trains from 2019, which will enable us to run more services."