South Western Railway (SWR) has released a statement detailing services that will be available during upcoming strike action in September.

The announcement reminded customers that the soonest strike action due to take place will happen over the Summer Bank Holiday weekend on Saturday, August 26 and provided updated information on how services will run on later strike days scheduled for Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2.

SWR said: “Friday, September 1 will be the first strike action on the SWR network involving main line drivers. Previous days of ASLEF Union strike action was limited to depot drivers, who bring trains in and out of service.

“With a shortage of main line drivers, SWR will run an extremely limited service with the majority of the network closed. Customers are advised that there will be fewer trains than on previous strike days.”

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Trains will only run between the hours of 7am and 7pm on September 1, with only one train per hour running between Salisbury and Basingstoke and one train per hour running between Basingstoke and London Waterloo. There will be no direct service from Salisbury to London Waterloo. There will also be no service on the Island Line.

On Saturday, September 2, trains will run between 7am and 7pm, with one train per hour running from Salisbury to Basingstoke and two trains per hour running between London Waterloo and Basingstoke. The Island Line will not be affected on this date.

SWR advised customers to carefully check route planners and schedules if they must travel on either of the first two days of September.

Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s chief operating officer, said: “This is the first time our network has been subject to full strike action by members of the ASLEF Union and, as a result, we are only able to offer an extremely limited service on Friday, September 1.

“Friday, September 1 will be different to previous days of strike action with a lot fewer trains running and with the majority of the network closed. Our advice to customers is to not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary. The few services we will be running are likely to be extremely busy and we may have to use queuing systems and crowd control measures.

“A significantly reduced service will operate the following day, Saturday, September 2, with more lines open but with large parts of the network still closed. Trains will only run between 7am and 7pm and so our advice, again, is to only travel if journeys are absolutely necessary.”