SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) is advising customers to consider if their journeys are entirely necessary, and to consider making alternative travel plans on Thursday 2 November, due to Storm Ciarán.

The storm is set to bring strong winds and heavy rain to the West Country, along the South Coast and on the Isle of Wight. For the safety of customers and colleagues, trains will need to travel at lower speeds and timetables will need to be amended to provide a reliable service.

The following timetable alterations will apply on Thursday 2 November:

  • London Waterloo-Weymouth services will start and terminate at Bournemouth, with an hourly rail shuttle service between Bournemouth and Weymouth
  • Services from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo via Basingstoke will be altered after Basingstoke, calling at Woking only, with services in the opposite direction running as normal
  • London Waterloo-Salisbury services will run once every hour
  • Salisbury-Exeter St Davids services will run once every two hours
  • Basingstoke-Salisbury shuttle services will be suspended
  • Brockenhurst-Lymington Pier services will be suspended

Following last week’s severe flooding on the Isle of Wight, train services have resumed on the Island Line between Ryde St. John’s Road and Shanklin. Services will run once per hour on both Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 November, while a rail replacement bus service will continue to run between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde St. John’s Road.

Journey planners will be fully up to date on Thursday 2 November. Customers are asked to check before setting off for their journeys and to double check their return journeys.

Short notice changes are possible and customers may also wish to consider travelling on a different day to avoid potential disruption. Tickets booked for Thursday 2 November will be valid on Wednesday 1 and Friday 3 November.

An SWR spokesperson said:

'Storm Ciarán will bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of our network and so, as a precaution, we are making temporary changes to our timetable on Thursday 2 November.

'Because of the potential for disruption we’re asking our customers to consider if their journeys are entirely necessary. Customers may also wish to consider travelling on alternative days, as ticket acceptance is in place for today and Friday.'

'We have been preparing for this storm with our colleagues at Network Rail, but we can’t rule out disruption in those areas of our network on Thursday. In the event of disruption, we won’t be able to run rail replacement bus services, so it’s really important that customers check their whole journey before setting off, if they do intend to travel.'

The latest information will be available at: southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey.