PEAK time services on the Alton to Waterloo line via Farnham will be hit by a 48-hour strike called by the RMT union next week, South Western Railway (SWR) has confirmed.

SWR will run “more than 60 per cent” of its normal train services on the two days that the RMT union has instructed its guards members to down tools on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

However, while some services are set to be replaced by rail replacement buses and others cancelled entirely, timetables are also set to be reduced across the majority of the network.

Two popular commuter trains will not run in both the morning and evening peaks; the 7.44am and 8.44am services departing Alton, and the 4.55pm and 6.55pm services departing Waterloo.

Many Alton-bound services will also depart Waterloo two minutes earlier that usual, while the peak-time 6.12am s­ervice departing Alton will leave two minutes later at 6.14am.

The strike marks the first time RMT members on SWR have joined colleagues on on other lines in the long-running dispute over the role of guards and the driver-only operation of trains.

New SWR franchise holder, First MTR, has stressed its intention to retain a second person on all its services.

However, RMT is arguing that the company has “failed to give clear, cast-iron assurances” over the future of guards on SWR trains.