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20:59 GMT, Wednesday, 10 June 2009 21:59 UK

Tube strike brings further chaos

Extra services during Tube strike

Bob Crow's letter to the mayor

Passengers at a bus stop

Rush hour commuters travelling home have endured disruption and delays as London's 48-hour Tube strike continues.

More than 50,000 football fans arrived at Wembley to see England play Andorra in a World Cup qualifier despite station closures caused by the strike.

The strike began at 1900 BST on Tuesday after talks broke down between London Underground bosses and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

The dispute is over pay, jobs and disciplinary issues.

The RMT accused London's mayor Boris Johnson of "playing politics" with the Tube - a charge the mayor has denied.

'No predictions'

On Wednesday evening, a spokesman for Transport for London said they remained ready to resume negotiations.

He stressed that no predictions could be made in terms of how much of the underground network would be running on Thursday.

Map of extra services

The strike is due to end at 1900 BST on Thursday but services are not expected to return to normal until Friday morning.

TUBE LINE UPDATES

Workers battle through travel chaos

How has the strike affected you?

Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy said: "Services are running this evening on nearly all London Underground lines, with good service on the Northern line and a decent service across the Jubilee line.

"Clearly, support for the RMT leadership's actions is far from the level they were expecting."

However, disruption remained significant with millions of people affected by the walkout.

Nine lines were affected by the industrial action, although there was a normal service on the Northern and Jubilee lines.

Docklands Light Railway services are operated as normal.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chiltern Railways announced its services would not stop at Wembley Stadium Station after 1200 BST on Wednesday for safety reasons.

A limited service was provided on main line train services, with two trains per hour from Kilburn High Rd station to Wembley Central between 1800 and 2017 BST.

After 2017 BST, normal services in both directions stopping at all stations, including Wembley Central, resumed.

Football fans arriving at Wembley Park Tube station

Some railway stations were inundated with extra passengers, with Clapham Junction severely overcrowded and hundreds of people queuing onto the street.

Extra traffic on London's roads has also led to gridlock in some areas, with buses struggling to stick to normal timetables.

Meanwhile, TfL said about 100 extra buses were made available and a free river shuttle service was also on offer.

The RMT and Tube have blamed each other for the dispute while insisting they wanted to resume talks which broke down on Tuesday night just before the start of the industrial action.

The London Chamber of Commerce estimated the capital's economy would lose more than £100m over the course of the strike.

Map of extra public transport services

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Related to this story:
Travel chaos for Tube passengers (10 Jun 09 |  London )
Workers battle through travel chaos (10 Jun 09 |  London )
In pictures: London Tube strike (10 Jun 09 |  In Pictures )
FA warns of Wembley travel chaos (10 Jun 09 |  Internationals )
Talks break down over Tube strike (10 Jun 09 |  London )
Extra services during Tube strike (09 Jun 09 |  London )
TfL consultants 'cost millions' (08 Jun 09 |  London )
Talks aim to prevent Tube strike (08 Jun 09 |  London )
Tube bosses improve salary offer (05 Jun 09 |  London )

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