We’ve previously set out our thoughts on the industrial action taking place on the railway, highlighting our concerns about the impact on school children and passengers more generally. This article is simply an update on next set of strikes and what to disruption to expect.
Saturday 13 August (ASLEF strike)
There will be no Southeastern services will running on the rail network.
The only service from Tonbridge will be a heavily reduced service on the Tonbridge-Redhill line. (Although Southern, which runs the service, is not directly affected by the ASLEF strike many Tonbridge-Redhill services are in fact crewed by Southeastern staff.) This service will be a mix of buses at the start and end of the day and a sparse train service in between. The trains and buses running are likely to be extremely busy and you advised not to travel if at all possible. For those who need to, bus and train times are set out below. Connections to London will be available at Redhill.
Departure times from Tonbridge to Edenbridge & Redhill:
- 04:44 (bus)
- 06:01 (bus)
- 07:01 (train)
- 09:01 (train)
- 12:01 (train)
- 14:01 (train)
- 16:01 (train)
- 18:01 (train)
- 19:01 (bus)
- 20:01 (bus)
- 21:01 (bus)
- 22:01 (bus)
- 23:03 (bus)
Departure times from Redhill to Edenbridge and Tonbridge:
- 05:05 (bus)
- 06:25 (bus)
- 08:00 (train)
- 11:00 (train)
- 13:00 (train)
- 15:00 (train)
- 17:00 (train)
- 20:00 (train)
- 21:00 (bus)
- 22:00 (bus)
- 23:00 (bus)
Departure times from Edenbridge to Tonbridge:
- 05:48 (bus)
- 07:08 (bus)
- 08:16 (train)
- 11:16 (train)
- 13:16 (train)
- 15:16 (train)
- 17:16 (train)
- 20:16 (train)
- 21:43 (bus)
- 22:43 (bus)
- 23:43 (bus)
Thursday 18 August (RMT and TSSA strike)
There will no train services at Tonbridge during this strike. The nearest train service runs from Sevenoaks. This is a half hourly service between Sevenoaks and London Bridge, with the first train from Sevenoaks at 08:21 and then last train back from London Bridge at 17:16. Our pleas for the Sevenoaks services to extend to Tonbridge have once again been ignored.
Southern is only running services on a small number of core routes and it will not be running any services on the Tonbridge-Redhill line.
Friday 19 August (day after RMT and TSSA strike)
There will be late start to services and trains that do run in the morning will be very busy. The first Southeastern trains from our stations will be:
- Tonbridge to Charing Cross: 07:20
- Hildenborough to Charing Cross: 07:34
- Paddock Wood to Charing Cross: 08:00
- Tonbridge to Maidstone West: 07:34
- Paddock Wood to Maidstone West: 07:41
Southern has not confirmed its timetable but on previous RMT strike days the first services were as follows:
- Tonbridge to Edenbridge and Redhill: 07:24
- Edenbridge to Redhill: 07:39
- Redhill to Edenbridge and Tonbridge: 08:51
- Edenbridge to Tonbridge: 09:07
Saturday 20 August (RMT and TSSA strike)
There will no train services at Tonbridge during this strike. The nearest train service runs from Sevenoaks. This is half hourly service between Sevenoaks and Victoria, with the first train from Sevenoaks at 07:45 and then last train back from Victoria at 17:06.
Southern is again only running services on a small number of core routes and it will not be running any services on the Tonbridge-Redhill line.
Sunday 21 August (day after RMT and TSSA strike)
Both Southeastern and Southern services are expected to be disrupted in the morning, but the times of the first trains have not yet been announced.