LONDON: Millions of commuters faced a second day of travel chaos yesterday due to a 48-hour strike by London Underground workers angry over ticket office closures and job cuts, with no sign of an end to the standoff between unions and rail bosses.
Staff from the two main rail unions began the first of two planned 48-hour “tube” strikes late on Tuesday, reducing the city’s vital Underground network used by three million people daily to a skeleton service.
The strike has left many people unable to get to work while others joined long queues to squeeze onto crowded buses and overground trains, turned to river boat services, or resorted to running or cycling to work.
“The train was so crammed I couldn’t even breathe but I do sympathise in some ways because it’s their jobs,” said Omar Salahuddin, 29, a teacher, whose journey from Pinner in northwest London to Canada Water in east London took four hours.
But the lengthy, and sometimes costly, alternative routes to work on Wednesday appeared to have deterred more commuters from battling the transport chaos yesterday. “#tubestrike day 2 = half empty tube pulls up as I get to the dead platform. Is everyone working from home today?!” tweeted Daniel Mryan.
The unions are protesting about plans to cut about 950 jobs and close manned ticket offices as part of a restructuring that Transport for London (TfL), which runs the capital’s public transport network, says could save $80m a year.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers (RMT) union, one of Britain’s most militant, said the action was as much about service as jobs, warning that TfL’s plans to reduce station staff would have a “seriously adverse impact on women, older and disabled people”.
Talks between TfL, the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union are due to resume today in a bid to avert a second 48-hour walk-out planned from February 11. But talks at an arbitration service last week and early this week have so far failed to find any common ground.
Reuters
