There will likely be severe disruption to the London Underground for much of next week if two tube strikes by RMT members go ahead.
Transport for London (TfL) is warning that the strike will cause disruption across the Tube network throughout 4th and 6th October and in the mornings of 5th and 7th October if it goes ahead. Also, the Night Tube is not expected to operate on Friday 6th October.
The strike only affects station and revenue staff, not train drivers, so while trains will be able to run normally, many stations will be closed on the strike days.
Although the Elizabeth line, London Overground, DLR and London Trams are scheduled to operate normally, they may be subject to last-minute changes and busier than usual. Also, tube stations shared by those services may still be closed, and the trains will pass through without stopping.
For the Elizabeth line, the stations in central London are likely to remain open if they have a separate entrance not shared with the London Underground – such as at Bond Street or Tottenham Court Road — but expect those entrances to be very busy.
Buses will also be much busier than usual.
Adding to the commute woes, there is also planned strike action on the National Rail network on Wednesday 4th October, with severe disruption on a number of train networks.
TfL says that talks with the RMT are ongoing to try to avert the strike. If the tube strike goes ahead, the likely impact will be:
| Wed 4th Oct | Strike day – many stations closed (also National Rail strike) |
| Thur 5th Oct | Disruptions in the morning |
| Fri 6th Oct | Strike day – many stations closed |
| Sat 7th Oct | Disruptions in the morning |
Nick Dent, Director of Customer Operations for London Underground, said: “We have been in ongoing discussions with our unions for some time to reach a resolution in the dispute over changes we are proposing to how our stations operate. We have made positive steps and made agreements on many points, but this planned strike action will cause disruption for Londoners and the city if it goes ahead and we apologise for this. We urge the RMT to continue engaging with us and to call off this action.”
There’s also an overtime ban by RMT members from Sunday 15th October to Saturday 21st October, which could lead to short-notice station closures if there’s a shortage of staff.
Although I’m not a political animal, I wish someone would step in and resolve these strikes. The cost to the country in time lost in both work and leisure is immense.
Why would they stop?
3 months training for an almost 50000£ p/y tube driver job. Thats a deal! No one would just give up such a lazy and comfortable career.
People wont get to work, airports, hospitals or school but that wont matter for them since they will be back to their comfortable lifes if they get to win this nonsense.
No one seems to care or do something about it and London continue to be paralized for the rest of the people. Moaning works for them since they are not the ones who are actually affected lol. So no, unfortunatelly it wont stop. I havent seen any march against this selfish strike so far.
Please read the article again – the tube drivers are NOT the people on strike.
“I havent seen any march against this selfish strike so far.”
Why don’t you organise one then?
Pathetic! Another strike because TFL want more money for already overpaid jobs.
Sort out your ventilation system on the tube first before asking for more money and reduce the fare prices!
What everyone should do is travel only by Bus. I know that would add extra time to journeys but in the long run would force TFL to stop these annoying strikes and also make them reduce their fare prices to bring back customers.
How would everyone riding TfL’s buses force TfL to pay more money to tube station staff while also reducing fares which means they have less money?
Not that the Government would allow TFL to reduce fares.
As part of the onerous covid support the Government have required TFL to increase revenue / reduce costs to a far higher degree than any other transport operator in the country.
These people hate their fellow citizens so much they ensure them and the country will immensely suffer while they strike yet again.
Trains in Germany do not run on time any more as we discovered this year