University students urged to follow guidelines on South Western Railway when travelling home
From today, thousands will be leaving campus for Christmas
Last updated 3rd Dec 2020
Students travelling home for Christmas on our region's trains are being urged to follow Coronavirus guidance.
A South Western Railway spokesperson said the operator has been dealing directly with universities along the network, advising students about travelling safely.
The operator says while carriages and stations are sanitised, people should still socially distance and wash their hands, as well as wear face coverings.
It also suggests that students travel light.
According to SWR, its travel timetable has not been altered for the travel window.
It had previously been amended in September, to increase capacity and adhere to social distancing.
In a statement, it said extra staff would be on hand at some stations:
"We have a dedicated command and control structure in place for the travel window period which is in charge of constantly fine tuning our response.
"We are deploying extra staff at some stations to assist students and ensure a positive customer experience for everyone.
"Since the start of the pandemic a number of measures have been taken to ensure that our services are safe to use.
"We have enhanced our cleaning regimes - using special chemicals on our trains and stations, installed hand sanitiser machines at stations and increased capacity to facilitate social distancing."
The following universities are on South Western Railway's network:
University of Bristol
UWE Bristol
Bath Spa University
University of Bath
University of Exeter
Bournemouth University
University of Southampton
Southampton Solent University
University of Portsmouth
University of Surrey
Kingston University London
University of Roehampton
University Centre Sparsholt
St Marys Twickenham
University of West London
University of Winchester
Yeovil College University Centre
Royal Holloway, University of London
Arts University Bournemouth
University of Reading