Southern rail workers will strike for 14 days in five separate blocks from next month in the long-running dispute over the role of conductors.

The strikes would leave commuters on the Southern network, which connects towns on the south coast with London, facing more travel misery after earlier strikes during the summer.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are taking the action over the proposed changes to the role of conductors on trains. The company plans to make drivers responsible for closing train doors, something that already happens on many services across the country.

However, the union warns that the change by operating company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a precursor to the removal of safety-trained guards from services, which it says would put the safety and security of passengers at risk.



Mick Cash, RMT’s general secretary, said: “Govia Thameslink and the government have made it clear that they have no interest in resolving this dispute. Instead they have begun the process of bulldozing through the drive towards wholesale driver-only operation (DOO) without agreement and without any concern for the impact on safety, security and disability access.

“Last week there was a train derailment near Watford that involved two trains. The guards on both trains played a vital role in protecting the passengers and the trains in what were extremely frightening circumstances. If the train had been DOO and without a guard the consequences would have been far worse.”

The RMT says its members will not work between:

Tuesday 11 October and Thursday 13 October



Tuesday 18 October and Thursday 20 October



Thursday 3 November and Saturday 5 November



Tuesday 22 November and Wednesday 23 November



Tuesday 6 December and Thursday 8 December



Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, the independent rail industry watchdog, said: “It is passengers who suffer most in the event of strikes and they will be angry that Southern and the RMT trade union have still not reached an agreement. It is crucial that all parties get back around the table and resolve this matter without bringing the railway to a standstill.

“Passengers need plenty of information about the strikes and what services will be running to allow them to plan their journeys during this uncertain time.”

Angie Doll, GTR’s passenger services director, accused the RMT of a shameful desire to “heap yet further travel misery on the public”.

She said: “A comprehensive and fair offer has been on the table for weeks and the union leadership’s claims about jobs, pay, safety are trumped-up make believe. This scaremongering by the RMT union is a contrived attempt to gain public support when it knows its spurious arguments about jobs, pay, accessibility and safety have been demolished by independent experts and analysis and are falling on deaf ears.”

She added: “Everyone is sick and tired of the union’s posturing and it has to stop, and stop now. It’s what the public want.”





