About 400,000 London commuters face two more days of travel chaos due to a strike by South West Trains staff.

Talks to avert the walkout by over 900 workers on coming Friday and Monday reached a deadlock yesterday.

SWT warned passengers to avoid peak time travel, as just one in five trains will run - and then only on four core routes.

Many stations, especially those in south-west London, will have no service. Strike day services will start later and finish earlier than the normal timetable.

STRIKE SERVICES MAP

More than 300 replacement buses - many bookable in advance - will run along some routes.

The two 24-hour strikes follow an earlier action on August 29, when many people were forced to drive into work or to take the day off.

The network normally runs almost 1,700 trains on a weekday on 616 miles of track between London and the South West and South East. Destinations include Bristol, Plymouth, Weymouth and Brighton.

This Friday and Monday, trains will only operate on the following four routes:

  • Waterloo - Woking - Guildford - Haslemere
  • Waterloo - Twickenham - Feltham - Staines
  • Waterloo - Basingstoke - Salisbury - Southampton
  • Waterloo - Surbiton - Hampton Court.

SWT operations director James Burt told passengers: "I am sorry for the disruption these unnecessary strikes will cause you."

Small local dispute

The row started with a local dispute at Waterloo over whether SWT should provide taxis for drivers on early and late shifts.

When the depot's drivers refused to work, SWT drafted in managers to drive trains.

The drivers' union Aslef said SWT breached an agreement that says managers will only drive trains in cases of health, safety or the possibility of civil unrest.

But the train company's chief, Steve Palmer, replied: "We believe that a strike is an exceptional circumstance, and that the prospect of leaving thousands of (passengers) stranded at stations and the subsequent overcrowding could have led to very real safety concerns."

After the first strike last week, Aslef secretary Keith Norman said SWT "preferred a punch-up to a settlement and using the public as its boxing-gloves".

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has also asked its SWT drivers to strike on the three dates.

  • In a separate dispute on the Heathrow Express service, two strikes scheduled for Thursday and coming Monday were suspended while drivers vote on an improved pay offer.