London Underground passengers have suffered severe delays because of a strike in a row over staffing, amid a new Southern Railway walkout also causing disruption.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on parts of the Tube network and Southern staged 24-hour walkouts saying both were "solidly" supported.
Picket lines were mounted outside rail and Tube stations on Wednesday morning, as Transport for London warned of delays and disruption.
Meanwhile, the Southern strike was the 29th since a bitter dispute about staffing and the role of conductors broke out last year.
The company said it was planning to run three-quarters of services.
The Tube strike started at 9pm on Tuesday in a row over the displacement of staff.
The action halted the Waterloo and City line and affected the Central line.
For the latest info on the Central and Waterloo & City line strike on Tues 21 & Wed 22 Feb: https://t.co/Mp4SooL7tF pic.twitter.com/hcMk9tHNOK
— Transport for London (@TfL) February 21, 2017
Peter McNaught, operations director for the Central line, said: "I apologise to customers for the disruption that this unnecessary strike is causing.
"We have made all reasonable efforts to resolve this dispute through talking through the issues with the unions, and we have minimised the number of employees affected from over 30 to eight.
"All of these moves are within the long-standing agreements we have made with the unions. We call on the RMT to honour this long-standing agreement and join us for more talks to resolve this issue."
Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said the union had made "strenuous efforts" to resolve the Tube dispute, adding: "The action is rock solid today with the impact severe and widespread, and the blame for that lies firmly at the door of an intransigent LU management that refuses to see sense.
"If LU are allowed to get away with this move on the Central line they will start shunting drivers around at the drop of a hat regardless of the consequences.
"Our members will be sent out from pillar to post to plug gaps that are solely down to staffing shortages. With massive budget cuts in the pipeline at LU this is a straw in the wind as to how the company expects to operate in the future."
Members of the drivers' union Aslef were also on strike on the Tube in a separate row about driver-only trains.
A Transport for London spokesman said: "We urge the RMT leadership to work with us constructively on the issues it has raised rather than threaten unnecessary industrial action."
0 comments: