SOUTH Western Railway services between Salisbury and Bristol and Salisbury and London have been impacted by staff shortages.

Between now and December, there will be fewer Saturday services connecting Salisbury to London.

Trains running from Salisbury to London Waterloo will end at Basingstoke until and including Saturday December 11.

However, passengers can still travel to London via the service departing from Exeter.

The withdrawal of Saturday services to Bristol is permanent.

The reduction of services is the result of an "ongoing shortage of traincrew" according to the rail operator. 

The company said the underlying issue is a shortage of available drivers, due to the "extensive disruption Covid restrictions have caused to our new driver training programme over the past year".

A statement on the SWR website said: "The delay to newly trained drivers passing out of our Salisbury depot has been further compounded by problems securing replacement buses and taxis.

"By taking this action, we aim to provide certainty for customers and reduce the number of late notice cancellations." 

A summary of these changes is below:

  • Salisbury to London Waterloo stopping services will terminate at Basingstoke – customers will need to change at Basingstoke for onward services to Woking, Clapham Junction and Waterloo
  • London Waterloo to Salisbury services will start at Basingstoke. Customers travelling from Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Woking will need to catch an earlier service and change at Basingstoke
  • SWR services between Salisbury and Bristol will not run. Customers will need to use connecting GWR services via a change at Salisbury. If you have an Advance ticket, you will be able to travel on GWR services on this route. If you can, try to travel close to your original booked time.
  • Customers to / from Warminster and Westbury may be able to use the Salisbury – Yeovil via Westbury services which will continue to run.
  • SWR services to Yeovil Pen Mill / Yeovil Junction via Westbury will run as normal.
  • SWR services between London Waterloo and Exeter will run as normal.

For more information, click here. 

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