Southern Railway will completely reinstate its inner-London services from Monday, spelling an end to weeks of severely reduced services throughout Southwark.
The rail operator made the announcement on Monday, also promising to reinstate one-third of all its services that were put on emergency timetables from July 11.
However a 48-hour strike by train guards who are members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday next week. A second ballot by train drivers of the Aslef union calling for more strike action was also called off on Monday.
The emergency timetables came into force amid what the firm call “unprecedented levels” of staff sickness. Strikes by members of the RMT trade union also took place between August 8 and 10. Rail commuters in Dulwich, Nunhead and Peckham endured months of unpredictable services. The confrontation between Southern and the RMT has been over Govia Thameslink (GTR), who own Southern, and their plans to introduce driver-only trains.
There had been widespread reports that commuters who were consistently late to work even being forced to move house or change job.
Charles Horton, GTR’s chief executive, said: “We’re pleased we can restore a large chunk of our train timetable for our passengers on this date but we will not be satisfied until the full timetable is running, and running in a punctual way people can rely on..”
Emergency time tables will remain in place for many areas of the south east of England.
