The whole rail network across Dorset, including trains to and from Wareham and Weymouth, will cease to operate for two days during the peak tourist season because of strike action by the transport union RMT.
While train companies South Western Railway (SWR) and Great Western Railway (GWR) will run a reduced service on Thursday 18th August and Saturday 20th August 2022 along some routes, that won’t include Dorset or indeed most of South West England.
No train service will operate to or from Wareham Station on Thursday 18th August and Saturday 20th August 2022
“Please only travel if absolutely necessary”
For Purbeck rail users, the nearest mainline train service operating on strike days, will be between Southampton and London Waterloo.
The disruption to train journeys will also affect Friday 19th August and Sunday 21st August 2022 with the service starting later in the morning.
SWR rail service will terminate at Southampton Central on strike days
“We are sorry that strikes will again cause such disruption”
South Western Railway’s commercial director, Peter Williams, said:
“Please only travel if absolutely necessary between Thursday 18th and Sunday 21st August as strike action will severely impact our services. Those who must travel are urged to carefully check the times of first and last trains and seek alternative means of travel.
“The scale of the action will be incredibly disruptive for our customers with large parts of our network closed on strike days and a late start in the morning after each strike day. First trains will run much later than usual and are likely to be very busy, so please travel later in the day if you can.
“We are sorry that strikes will again cause such disruption. We are grateful to our customers for their continued cooperation, patience, and understanding as the rail industry works to bring this damaging nationwide strike action to an end.”
There will be empty railway platforms across Dorset
Dispute over pay, jobs and conditions
The dispute is between Network Rail, the government and unions over pay, jobs and conditions.
Network Rail says it’s offering a pay deal worth more than five percent, but it’s dependent on workers accepting “modernising reforms”.
The RMT union says the offer is a real terms pay cut and would mean cutting a third of frontline maintenance roles.
Nationally, there is also a strike by the train drivers’ union ASLEF on Saturday 13th August 2022 but it doesn’t affect journeys on SWR routes.
Swanage Railway is unaffected and will operate as normal.
Further information
- The latest information and strike timetable is on the SWR website
