Londoners face another day of travel chaos as this week’s second 24-hour Tube strike begins at midday on Thursday.
It follows a walkout which began at 12pm on Tuesday and caused serious disruption on the London Underground late into Wednesday evening.
Most of the network was affected, with several lines partially closed or experiencing severe delays.
The strike by Tube drivers who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) is set to cripple services again, causing travel disruption for commuters and visitors.
It will run until midday on Friday but delays are expected to continue until the evening.
The union, which is in dispute over changes to the working week, is planning four more 24-hour strikes in May and June unless the row is resolved.
Transport for London (TfL) has advised passengers to check before they travel.
Earlier, London Underground bosses urged the RMT to call off Thursday’s strike.
Nick Dent, director of customer operations for London Underground, asked the union’s leaders to meet with them “to avoid any further disruption to Londoners.”
“While we have been able to run more services than planned over the last 24 hours, we expect significant disruption to continue into Friday and the level of service we can provide will vary across lines, so customers should continue to check before they travel for the remainder of this week.
“We have set out proposals to the RMT for a four-day working week which are supported by the other Trade Union representing London Underground drivers.
“This allows us to offer train operators an additional day off, whilst at the same time bringing London Underground in line with the working patterns of other train operating companies, improving reliability and flexibility at no additional cost.
“The changes would be voluntary, there would be no reduction in contractual hours and those who wish to continue a five-day working week pattern would be able to do so.”
RMT official Jared Wood said union members felt strongly about the issues at the heart of the dispute.
He said the row was not just about a four-day week, adding other issues were involved such as the length of shifts and changes to annual leave.
He said: “TfL need to come forward with changes to their proposals for this dispute to be resolved.
“There is absolute unanimity among our members that we have to fight these proposals.”
