The Southern rail strike was suspended yesterday, but a normal pre-strike timetable will not resume until the weekend, the service’s parent company has said.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which owns Southern, agreed to re-open negotiations with intermediaries Acas yesterday (Wednesday, August 10) on the third day of a five-day strike.

The present strike timetable – which saw 40 per cent of Southern’s existing services cut – will remain in operation through today and tomorrow.

Reduced services will be run across south London and north Surrey, including on lines between London Victoria and Epsom and between London Bridge and Brighton.

Your Local Guardian:
Map showing revised services during the strike

A Southern spokesperson said: “The strike action called by the RMT union has been suspended as further talks are now taking place.

“At present, the strike timetable is still in the industry train planning systems for Thursday 11 and Friday, August 12.

“Regrettably, this means services on Thursday, August 11 will be based upon the present strike timetable but we will do our very best to add services in and extend the hours of operation wherever possible.”

Southern was forced to cut 40 per cent of its services during the strike this week.

In July the rail company cut 341 trains a day from its timetable because of staff shortages and sickness levels.

For more information, visit Southern’s live running page.