The RMT rail union has suspended next week’s strike action on South Western Railway (SWR) for talks with the company on Friday (6 March).
However, as of Thursday morning, the firm, which runs services to and from London Waterloo, had not guaranteed that it would run a full timetable.
RMT guards and drivers were due to strike from 10am on Monday for 24 hours and for a further 24 hours from 10am on Thursday in a long running dispute over the role of guards on new trains.
In a statement it said it has suspended strike action ‘in good faith to allow further talks to take place’ and that its SWR guard, commercial guard and train driver members were instructed to work as usual.
A spokesperson for SWR said, ‘We are pleased for our customers and colleagues that next week’s strikes have been suspended, we hope that we can now find a solution to bring a permanent end to this dispute for everyone’s sake.
‘We are now working hard to reinstate the full timetable for next week.’
The union held almost a month of strikes during December. SWR has said it will pay the cost of rail travel for up to five days as compensation to season ticket holders and daily ticket holders who travelled frequently during the strikes.
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