No Southern Rail Services on Friday 16 December
West London line through H&F among routes affected by strikes
Southern Rail trains are once again not running on Friday, 16 December during the third day of this week's crippling industrial action.
Drivers on the Southern rail network walked out at midnight last night after conciliation talks between
Aslef and the RMT unions and Southern's parent company Govia Thameslink
failed.
Today's walkout follows a 48 hour drivers' strike on Tuesday and Wednesday and comes ahead of a conductors' strike set to begin on Monday.
The West London line is among those affected by these walkouts, with no service by Southern during the strike.
It runs through Hammersmith and Fulham stations Shepherd's Bush, Kensington Olympia, West Brompton and Imperial Wharf and some Southern trains, running from Milton Keynes Central to Clapham Junction serve this line alongside the more numerous Overground trains.
The Overground service is unaffected by the strikes, but passengers are warned that these already busy trains are likely to be more overcrowded than usual.
So far this year the service has been cancelled, then
reinstated on a limited peak time basis. Last month the full timetable was restored, taking pressure off the often overcrowded Overground trains, but the service remained erratic.
The walkouts are due to a continuing dispute between the unions and Southern's parent company Govia Thameslink over planned changes to the role of conductors on trains.
The company plans to make drivers responsible for closing doors – something that already happens on many services across the country.
There have been repeated strikes by conductors who are RMT union members since April over the changes but this week's walkout is the first industrial action by ASLEF drivers.
There is also further misery in store for travellers, with strikes planned from Monday 19 December to Tuesday 20 December members of the RMT union walk out.
This strike has been changed from its original date of December 22 to 24, which would have caused chaos as people travel during the Christmas period.
On New Year's Eve through to Monday 2 January RMT conductors will be striking again which will cause problems to anyone travelling for New Year celebrations.
The final series of strikes begin on Monday 9 January lasting for six days through to Saturday 14 January as both ASLEF and RMT drivers walk out.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has condemned the strikes, saying: " "There is no safety issue. What the union is saying is palpable nonsense.
"The unions are deliberately trying to bring the railway to its knees."
He added that he would examine possible changes in legislation "very carefully."
ASLEF's general secretary Mick Whelan responded: "The strikes this week are not, whatever Mr Grayling tries to suggest, politically motivated.
"We have a trade dispute with GTR Southern, and only a poor government would seek to spin it any other way.
"We were willing to go to ACAS last week but GTR Southern refused because they wanted to go to court."
December 16, 2016
