Union To Campaign Against South Western Railway Cuts


RMT says attack on services, jobs and pay worst since the sixties

Discounted Theatre Tickets Offered by South Western Railway
Company says ticket discounts are exclusive

The RMT is launching a campaign against what it describes as “swingeing cuts” on South Western Railway (SWR). The union is describing the timetable changes as an attack on rail services, jobs and pay unseen since the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

SWR and Network Rail have launched a stakeholder consultation that proposes to cut 15 per cent of peak and off-peak services across the SWR Network from December 2022.

The RMT says these service cuts are a Government-led cost-cutting exercise to reduce services and ultimately jobs on the railways. It believes cuts to services will only serve to drive more people into their cars and onto already congested roads.

The RMT has started a petition which can be signed by clicking here.

The changes will see a reduction of 13% of peak services into London and a 14% cut if off peak service and mainline suburban trains from December 2022.

SWR claims the changes are designed to increase the reliability of services into Waterloo. They are part of a broader reduction in services which the train company says are being introduced as the experience during the pandemic confirmed to it that running fewer trains increases reliability.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said, “We’re launching this campaign to send a clear message to private train operators and the Government that RMT will simply not accept any cuts to services and attacks on jobs and pay on the railway.

"It wasn’t long ago that the Government promised they were going to “reverse the Beeching cuts” but with these proposals they are trashing that promise and instead preparing to unleash Beeching two on our railways.

"These cuts to services are regressive, short-sighted and embarrassing for the Government. In the year that the UK hosts vital climate talks at COP26 cutting rail services is sending a terrible message that public transport is expendable and not an essential part of the solution to the climate crisis.”

RMT will be launching the “No Cuts on SWR!” campaign at 8:00am on Monday 13 September at Waterloo Station. A week of action will follow with events at Woking, Waterloo, Richmond, Weymouth, Bournemouth and Southampton.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.



September 10, 2021