TRAIN passengers in Wiltshire face two days of disruption this week as rail workers strike again over jobs, pay and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and Aslef at Network Rail and 14 train operators will walk out, crippling services across the UK.

Only a fifth of services will run, on around half of the network, so passengers are being urged to only travel by train if they must.

Trains on the Great Western Railway will be cancelled or run on an extremely limited service on Wednesday and Saturday.

On Wednesday, a significantly limited service will operate between 7am and 6.30pm and the last trains will leave much earlier than expected.

The last train from Paddington to Newport/Cardiff will leave at 4.27pm, and the last train from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads will leave at 4.33pm.

No rail services will operate on the following routes:

  • All lines in Cornwall, including all branch lines 
  • West of Exeter towards Plymouth/Cornwall (due to no contingency signallers)
  • All branch lines in Devon (Barnstaple, Exmouth, Paignton, Okehampton) 
  • South Wales main line (Carmarthen/Swansea–Cardiff Central) 
  • Berks & Hants line (Reading–Taunton via Castle Cary) 
  • Wessex main line (Bath Spa–Portsmouth Harbour) 
  • Heart of Wessex line (Westbury–Weymouth) 
  • TransWilts line (Swindon–Westbury via Melksham) 
  • Severn Beach line (Bristol Temple Meads–Severn Beach) 
  • North Cotswolds line (Hereford/Worcester–Oxford) 
  • South Cotswolds line (Cheltenham Spa–Swindon) 
  • Worcester/Gloucester–Bristol 
  • Greenford branch line 
  • North Downs line (Reading–Gatwick Airport)

Trains will continue to be disrupted on Thursday as things go back to normal.

SWR will also have reduced services on Wednesday.

It will consist of:

  • Four trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Windsor via Hounslow  
  • Two semi-fast trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Basingstoke   
  • Four trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Woking  
  • Two fast trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Southampton  
  • Trains will not stop at all stations on these routes. There will be no SWR services across the rest of the network.  

Saturday marks the start of the Aslef strike among GWR train drivers, which will have an even greater impact on travel as most parts of the network will have no train service.

Services will start later and finish much earlier than normal.

The reason for this is that the union believes that train companies failed to make a pay offer to keep pace with the increase in the cost of living.

The only services that will operate on Saturday will be:

  • Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington
  • Bristol Temple Meads-Cardiff Central
  • Reading to Oxford
  • Reading to Basingstoke

Disruption is likely to continue into Sunday.