More rail strikes are planned for this month and so South Western Railway (SWR) is urging customers only to travel by rail if absolutely necessary between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 August.

Significant parts of the network will be closed entirely and those trains that are running will be far less frequent and much busier than normal.

Staff at Network Rail and more than 2,100 SWR members are set to take strike action on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August.

Network Rail will provide contingency cover for critical roles including electrical control room operators, signallers, maintenance, and response teams, but will not be able to cover the whole day.

SWR’s reduced timetable will run from 7.15am to 6.30pm on 18 and 20 August strike days.

TfL Underground and Overground services will be affected by strikes all day on Friday 19 August, with some bus services disrupted on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 August. Connections with SWR services in London are likely to be impacted, or not run at all.

SWR will not be affected by the planned ASLEF strike action on Saturday 13 August, but some other train companies will be, so customers should check before they travel.

South Western Railway’s commercial director, Peter Williams, said: “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 up on 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.”

Customers are urged to check the SWR website for latest information on https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/industrial-action