TRAVELLERS are facing more misery this festive season after further strikes on the railways were announced.

The ongoing dispute between staff and South Western Railway (SWR) will now continue with industrial action confirmed to take place today, December 27 and New Year’s Eve.

Numerous trains have been cancelled and services cut back to cope with the strike demands, which has affected railway users throughout the year.

The dispute centres around SWR’s plans to roll out driver-only trains.

Today there will be no trains from Salisbury to Romsey via Southampton Central, with no service from Redbridge and Millbrook.

The service between Southampton Central and Portsmouth, via Fareham, will run only once every two hours with no trains stopping at Swaythling.

So far no plans for New Year’s Eve have been released.

A SWR spokesperson said: “By announcing these strike dates, the RMT has shown it has no intention of finding a solution and is only interested in inflicting more misery on passengers as they try to enjoy the festive season.

“This strike action is totally unnecessary. We have guaranteed to roster a guard on every train, and we are employing more, not fewer guards. We will do everything we can to keep customers moving and reduce disruption whenever the RMT strikes.”

Rail replacement services and ticket acceptance on other bus and rail networks have been organised where possible but passengers are strongly advised to plan their travel in advance, check the SWR website, and allow extra time for journeys as services are likely to be much busier than usual.