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. 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 Northern Line - good service District Line - Trains from Wimbledon to Mansion House; Ealing Broadway to High Street Kensington Jubilee Line - minor delays Metropolitan Line - Trains from Wembley Park to Baker Street Piccadilly Line - Trains from Arnos Grove to Cockfosters; Acton Town to Hammersmith Victoria Line - Trains from Seven Sisters to Victoria Bakerloo Line - Trains from Queen's Park to Elephant & Castle Central Line - Liverpool Street to Epping and Hainault; White City to Ruislip and Ealing Broadway Circle Line - suspended Hammersmith and City Line - Trains from Baker Street to Hammersmith Waterloo and City - suspended |
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 heading for Wembley were advised to travel early |
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.
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