From
BBC» NewsNorthern and South Western rail strikes disrupt events
Workers on Northern Rail and South Western Railway (SWR» ) have begun a new strike in the long-running dispute over the future of train guards.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT▸ ) stopped work for 24 hours at midnight.
Northern said the action would hit Manchester's Christmas markets while SWR said it was causing "misery".
The quote is for Northern, but I have a question for South Western where, I understand, the unions have a (further) six month mandate for industrial action which has to be announced with a minimum two weeks notice. Not my area of expertise - can member(s) of the forum please let me know to correct any areas I have it inaccurate or plain wrong.
My question ... is there any chance of South Western Railway services being seriously effected over the Christmas period while engineering is taking place at Paddington and enhanced passenger flows into Waterloo from Reading and Exeter are likely?
As a follow up ... looking a long way ahead (can it go on that long) ... how about dating the 3 weeks and 4 weekends of Whiteball Tunnel closure in the 2nd half of Feb 2019 and the beginning of Match?