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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sian Hewitt

Is the Elizabeth Line running during the strikes?

Planned strikes by the RMT on Wednesday October 4 and Friday October 6 have been called off since this article was originally published.

Rail and Tubeservices in the capital will largely come to a halt when industrial action commences later this week.

Travel chaos is expected as a result of the strikes — planned for Wednesday, October 4 and Friday, October 6 — with operators warning there could be delays on the other days due to backlog from strike days.

The fresh round of walkouts by train drivers and London Underground workers has come as a result of a long-running dispute over jobs and pay.

The train drivers of 16 operators in England that are not running services include Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Northern, Southeastern, and Transpennine Express.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “Our members have not had a pay rise for four years — since 2019 — and that’s not right when prices have soared in that time.

“Train drivers, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy four years ago.”

Tube services will also be affected, but will all lines be affected?

Is the Elizabeth Line running during strikes?

There will be no strikes on the Elizabeth Line and, at present, the service is due to run as scheduled across all days, although it has been warned that services will be busier than usual.

However, operators have warned that the central section of the line could be subject to last-minute changes, including non-stopping at stations in central London in the event of heavy usage or delays.

Passengers may be required to get off at Paddington, Liverpool Street, or Whitechapel stations and continue using alternative transport options, but the rest of the Elizabeth Line is expected to operate normally outside central London.

When are the Tube strikes?

Tube strikes will take place across Wednesday, October 4 and Friday, October 6.

RMT walkouts and thousands of train staff striking will leave most lines affected, according to Transport for London (TfL).

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) on London Underground will strike over jobs and conditions which will cause disruption across the Tube network.

London Underground said most services will be severely affected or will not run on strike days, with disruption the morning after the walkouts.

Director of customer operations Nick Dent 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.”

An RMT spokesperson said: “It is positive that Transport for London have agreed with RMT that their cuts have had a detrimental impact on our members and the service we provide.

“However, we still have a long way to go to agree on solutions to these problems. We remain in talks with management to try and make further progress.”

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