SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) must drop its “discredited” plans to slash hundreds of services, transport union RMT says.

The union has revealed that market research underpinning the proposed cuts was undertaken at the height of the coronavirus pandemic – when most people were instructed not to travel – and that a detailed study by Network Rail indicating the need to increase services was ignored.

RMT says that franchisee SWR commissioned three separate pieces of market research, all conducted between May 2020 and January this year, when the government was specifically instructing passengers to avoid rail travel if possible.

A separate study by infrastructure operator Network Rail published in July “in every scenario specified a need for increased capacity” on the network and directly contradicted SWR’s lower demand projections, the union says.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch is demanding that the formal consultation, which closed yesterday, be binned.

He said: “Our evidence proves, clear as day, that SWR’s cuts consultation is a sham and is completely discredited.

“The consultation may have closed, but our campaign continues.

“No-one can have any confidence in this process, which is clearly being driven by the government as a cost-cutting measure and using Covid-19 as a cover to launch an unprecedented attack on rail services and rail workers’ jobs and pay.

“Almost 3,000 passengers have supported our campaign and directly rejected these cuts proposals … and our message to SWR and the government is clear.

“In the year the UK hosts vital climate talks at Cop26, the government should be wholly focused on cutting emissions, not rail services.”

SWR said that the service levels proposed from December 2022 would be at 93 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, and that there would be capacity to increase them in future.

“Our proposals have come off the back of multiple waves of detailed research with our customers to understand their preferences for travelling in the future, particularly during the morning and evening peaks when historically our services have been heavily crowded,” the company said.