TRAVELLERS using South Western Railway are being warned to expect disruption over the New Year period because of ongoing strike action by the RMT rail union.

An amended timetable is in place for many areas, especially services to London Waterloo.

SWR is strongly urging passengers to plan ahead before travelling as services and stations are likely to be very busy.

The strike is affecting South West Trains services from Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury, including those from Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster.

A South Western Railway spokesman said: “We have been talking to the RMT about the best method of operation for our new trains for at least two years both with, and without, Acas, to try and find a solution. Indeed, just this week we met to try and avert these strikes from going ahead.

"For our part we have promised that we will keep a guard on every train and that our guards will have a safety critical role. Both things the RMT has been asking for, so these strikes are unnecessary.

“All we are asking for is for our guards to work with us to bring in our new suburban trains which our estimates show could mean more than 10 million more passenger journeys arriving on-time in peak hours every year.”

A reduced weekday service will operate on January 2 and 3. Journey planners will be updated with the revised service in due course and online information will be updated once this has taken place.

Along with engineering work on Saturday and Sunday, January 4 and 5, the full winter timetable will commence in earnest on Monday, January 6.

The SWR added: "While we will again be calling on our team of contingency guards to keep services running, the prolonged nature of this industrial action means we have had to adjust our normal strike timetables to reflect this."

As a result:

• We expect to run more than half of our normal Monday to Friday services, prioritising capacity during peak periods, with the same level of peak services as in previous strikes

• Peak services will be much busier than normal and we may have to introduce queuing at a number of our busiest stations

• Services will finish earlier than normal

• Off-peak frequencies may be reduced

• Buses will replace trains on some routes, with ticket acceptance with other operators on others

• To receive further updates and service information, sign up to our strike alerts.

The strike timetable continues to December 31 with some additional services running on inner suburban routes on New Year's Eve for those people attending the annual London fireworks display.