ASLEF (train drivers union) industrial action starting this Friday 1 December until Sunday 10 December, with a strike at GWR on Thursday 7 December and action short of a strike for the other affected days.
This means that we are now only able to run a very limited service this Sunday 3 December, as we have fewer drivers available to work – especially on our long-distance services. As such, some parts of the GWR network will have no service at all, including all long distance trains out of London Paddington to Bristol, South Wales, and the South West. There will be no replacement bus services in operation either.
Customers are advised to travel before the weekend or after Sunday. Where we can run services (and we expect to this include most of our local services), only a limited number of trains will run, they will be much busier than usual, and services will be subject to short notice alteration or cancellations.
Our team our working on getting journey planners updated as soon as possible, and these should be accurate online from tomorrow (Thursday 30 November). Customers with tickets to travel from Saturday 2 December to Friday 8 December can use these the day before they are valid or up to and including Tuesday 12 December.
For full information please visit our dedicated strike page www.gwr.com/strike,
which again our team are working to get updated as soon as possible, or see our media release here: https://news.gwr.com/news/no-trains-between-london-paddington-and-bristol-south-wales-and-the-south-west-on-sunday-as-industrial-action-by-drivers-union-looms.
South Western Railway have also advised that their services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids will be subject to major disruption and diversions. This is due to industrial action and major engineering work between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction. Services are likely to be extremely busy.
Customers travelling from to Bath for the Bath Christmas Market, or Bath Rugby’s fixture against Exeter Chiefs, are warned that, throughout the weekend, services we are able to run will be extremely busy, and there will be significant queues to board trains home. We advise using alternative transport if visiting these events as services across the weekend will be disrupted by this industrial action.
