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Tuesday 29 April 2014

Tube strike: Commuters face 'severe disruption'

Queues are building up at stations and bus stops.

Commuters travelling in London have been warned to expect "severe disruption" as Tube workers strike.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union have walked out for 48 hours over plans to close all ticket offices at a cost of 960 jobs.

The strike started at 21:00 BST on Monday and ends at 20:59 on Wednesday, although disruption may continue into Thursday morning.

The conciliatory service Acas said its "services remain available".

The union and London Underground (LU) have met more than 40 times through Acas since the last 48-hour strike in February, but talks broke down on Monday.

Transport for London has issued a document of travel advice to customers.

It has said it plans to run as many services as possible with extra bus and river services, but customers are advised to check their journey before they travel.

The following services are expected to run less frequently than normal and with some stations may be closed:

Bakerloo Line: Between Queen's Park and Elephant and Castle
Central Line: Between Epping/Hainault and Leytonstone. Between White City and Ealing Broadway and between North Acton and West Ruislip
District Line: Between Wimbledon and Upminster. Between Ealing Broadway and High Street Kensington
Hammersmith and City Line: Between Hammersmith and Aldgate
Jubilee Line: Between Wembley Park and Stratford
Metropolitan Line: Between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Aldgate
Northern Line: Between Edgware and Golders Green and between High Barnet and East Finchley/Mill Hill East
Piccadilly Line: Between Acton Town and Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3
The strike means there will be no service on the Waterloo and City Line and no Circle Line service, although some stations will be served where other lines share the track.

The strike got the go-ahead on Monday after talks broke down

The strike revolves around plans to close all ticket offices at Underground stations
Where services can be operated, trains will run from 07:00 and finish at about 23:00.

The last services from central London may also depart much earlier, at about 21:30.

The RMT said it would have suspended the strike if LU had agreed to a public consultation over the plans, which do not include any compulsory redundancies.

John Leach, of the RMT, said: "We made it clear at Acas that what it would take would be for [LU] to suspend the implementation of the Booking Office closure programme, the 953 job cuts, until we have had a proper consultation.

"We've spent months with this and it hasn't happened, and enough's enough."

But London Underground spokesman Phil Hufton said it had been discussing the proposals with the RMT since November and no alternative plans had been put forward by the union.


If the dispute is not resolved a second, 72-hour strike is planned to begin at 21:00 BST on 5 May
He said: "I'm absolutely dismayed that we're at this point. The RMT have not once come forward with any credible alternatives."

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has also criticised the strikes and suggested the plans will go ahead.

"We're going to close 260 ticket offices, we're going to change the way they operate, we're going to make them available for other functions, we're going to do fantastic things with our stations, but there's always room to discuss about the terms and conditions of our employees," he said.


A 48-hour Tube strike in February caused widespread disruption
The strike is likely to hit university students taking degree exams. On its website, King's College London says it is aware of students' concerns and will review the impact of strike action.

The RMT is also holding a 48-hour strike which began at 03:00 on Tuesday on the Heathrow Express in a separate row over jobs, pay and cuts.

And football fans travelling to Chelsea's Champions League match with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday will also be affected.

The union is set to strike for 72 hours from 21:00 on Monday 5 May, if the ticket office dispute is not resolved.
From BEN Latest News: www.benlatestnews.com

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