CONTINGENCY plans for railway services have been announced ahead of a strike on New Year's Eve with passengers being advised to check before they travel.

South Western Railway (SWR) has said it will be running around three-quarters of its normal service, as well as rail replacement bus services on some routes and ticket acceptance on other train companies will be in place.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union on South Western Railway will walk out for 24 hours as part of a continued row over the role of guards on train.

Andy Mellors, SWR managing director, said: “We are sorry that many of our passengers will find trains much busier than normal on New Year’s Eve.

"There will be a revised timetable in place and queues are expected at stations due to this unnecessary strike action by the RMT.

“All our passengers want to do is to travel to be with their friends and loved ones for the New Year celebrations.

"We have repeatedly assured the RMT that we plan to keep guards on our trains as we know how much a second person is valued by our passengers. We have now put contingency plans in place to keep passengers moving should this strike go ahead.”

Details of rail replacement bus services and ticket acceptance will be available at southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/rmt-strike.