RAIL travellers from East Hampshire stations using South Western Railway (SWR) services over the Easter holidays can expect disruption to their journeys as four days of industrial action is planned.

The strikes are the latest in the dispute between the rail company and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union over the future role of guards and driver-only operated trains.

The union is taking industrial action as it believes that trains with only a driver on board could put passenger safety at risk.

The rail company insists its plans won’t compromise passenger safety in any way.

All RMT guards and train drivers have been instructed not to work on rest days between 12.01am on Friday, and 11.59pm next Monday, April 2.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is disgraceful that SWR continues to refuse to engage in meaningful talks over their plans to run trains without a safety-critical guard on board across this franchise.

“Instead, they continue to resort to the crudest possible attempts to threaten, bully and harass our members fighting to put public safety before private profit.”

An SWR spokesman said: “We will do everything we can to minimise the disruption that this unnecessary action will undoubtedly cause, and intend to operate a normal timetable over the Easter period.

“However, engineering work is planned for some parts of our network so we advise customers to check our website before they travel.”

The strikes will follow disruption to services yesterday (Tuesday) when a points failure at Wimbledon saw trains on the Portsmouth to London line delayed and cancelled throughout the day.

For more information on the strikes and their impact on rail services, visit the SWR website at: www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey