The ASLEF union, which represents train drivers, will take industrial action from Friday 1 to Saturday 9 December, with SWR drivers taking strike action on Wednesday 6 December.

There will be an extremely limited service on Wednesday, 6 December, with trains only running between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Feltham, Woking, Guildford and between Basingstoke and Salisbury.

Trains will only operate on these routes between the hours of 0700 and 1900. There will be no other services, on any lines, outside of these times.

Unlike previous rounds of ASLEF industrial action, the union will be striking on different days for different train operators across the industrial action period.

Drivers at Southeastern, Gatwick Express and Southern will also take strike action on Wednesday 6 December, with others taking strike action on other days, which may impact connections with other operators' services.

Throughout the nine-day period, ASLEF has also instructed its members not to work any overtime, which will affect SWR from Friday 1 to Tuesday 5 and from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 December.

December strike calender for train operators (credit: South Western Railway).

While SWR will be running a normal timetable on most of its network from Friday 1 to Tuesday 5 and on Thursday 7 December, there will be some cancellations.

Stuart Meek, Chief Operating Officer for South Western Railway, said: "We're sorry that national industrial action will again impact SWR services for the first nine days of December.

"ASLEF will take strike action on Wednesday 6 December, meaning we will run an extremely limited service, and we must urge our customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on that day.

"During other days of industrial action, customers should check their entire journeys before setting off, as there will be some cancellations and drivers at other operators may be on strike.

"We know that this is a busy time of year as we approach Christmas, so we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding."

SWR says customers are reminded that from Sunday 10 December, it will begin operating a new timetable.

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