London hit by severe travel disruption as underground drivers strike
June 2 (UPI) -- Millions of commuters, tourists and Londoners were facing travel disruption across the center of the British capital on Tuesday after 1,700 subway drivers went on strike in a dispute over working hours, forcing the transit authority to shutter four of the city's 11 lines.
Travelers were warned there were no trains on the Circle, Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines and large sections of the Central and Metropolitan lines through midnight after Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union members walked out for 24 hours starting at 12.01 a.m. local time.
The BBC reported "severe disruption" on sections still running of the partially-closed Bakerloo line and on the District and Hammersmith & City lines with only the Jubilee line operating without any delays or other issues.
Services on three lines -- Northern, Victoria and Jubilee -- were operating at close to normal levels despite Transport for London warning riders to expect disruption across the entire network, which transports 5 million passengers on a normal day.
The situation was compounded by traffic jams and engineering problems on other -- non-underground -- parts of the city's rail infrastructure, including the Elizabeth line, hitting service on western sections between Paddington and Reading, and Heathrow Airport Terminals 4 & 5.
Travelers moving east-west or west-east, via central London, were able to switch to the Elizabeth line, which is not part of the London underground, once the technical problem was resolved, but long queues for taxis formed at mainline rail stations in the north and south of the capital.
Buses were impacted by much heavier traffic than normal.
Transport for London said it expected to run a normal service across the network on Wednesday before another 24-hour strike, scheduled for Thursday.
The dispute is over plans to move to a four-day week with drivers' 35 hours of work compressed into four days, instead of being spread across five.
Drivers belonging to the Association of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, which has a larger proportion of drivers than the RMT, have agreed to the change and turned up for work as normal.
Speaking on Monday ahead of the walkout, RMT said TfL had refused to address members' concerns.
"Despite our best efforts in Acas [arbitration] talks, TfL has failed to provide assurances on our members' deeply held concerns around fatigue, reduced flexibility, shift lengths and the impact these proposals could have in a safety-critical role like tube driving. We remain available for meaningful talks, but strike action tomorrow will now go ahead," said an RMT spokesperson.
TfL expressed "bitter disappointment" that the RMT had gone ahead with industrial action despite the fact the authority had provided repeated reassurances that moving to a four-day week was optional.
"Our proposals are, and have always been, clear. The completely voluntary four-day week has been designed to improve work-life balance and any of our tube drivers who do not wish to take up the new proposed way of working and associated changes to working arrangements can remain on a five-day working pattern," said Tfl Chief Operating Officer Claire Mann.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 9:28 AM.