Customer advice during ASLEF action on Central and Waterloo & City lines

21 August 2014
  • No Waterloo & City line service as ASLEF strike action goes ahead
  • No Central line trains operating in central London. Other parts of the line may also be suspended
  • Customers are urged to seek alternative routes and check before they travel at tfl.gov.uk
  • All other Tube, DLR and London Overground routes will be operating normally but may be busier than usual
  • ASLEF union urged to call off strike and continue discussions with LU rather than disrupting Londoners

London Underground (LU) today issued advice to customers ahead of strike action called by the leadership of the ASLEF union on the Central line for this Friday.

The ASLEF action will take place all day on Friday 22 August and will mean that the Waterloo & City line will not operate any services. 

The Central line will not have any trains running through central London and other parts of the line may also be suspended. However LU will run a limited service between: ·        

  • West Ruislip and White City
  • Epping and Leytonstone

Any services that do run will not start before 07:00, will finish by 22:00 and will be at reduced frequency. Customers are advised to seek alternative routes.  

TfL will deploy extra buses on key routes and TfL Ambassadors and volunteers will be deployed to key Underground and bus stations to provide customers with travel information and advice.  

Other Tube services, the DLR, London Overground and National Rail will operate normally. These services are likely to be busier than usual and journeys made outside peak hours are likely to be easier.  

ASLEF has raised a number of issues most of which we have resolved or agreed to discuss further, however their main sticking point in this dispute is about adhering to an agreed timetable specific to the Central line, something that is recognised and accepted across all other lines.  We  agreed to suspend this procedure so that we could continue with further talks but ASLEF rejected this and has decided to go ahead with this unnecessary strike action.  

Nigel Holness, London Underground's Operations Director, said:  `Friday's strike action means there will be no service on the Waterloo & City line and severe disruption on the Central line.  We will have staff and volunteers across the network to help customers with their journeys but I advise people to plan ahead and check before they travel. All other Tube, DLR and London Overground routes will be operating as normal.  

`We have made some progress during our talks with the ASLEF leadership and had resolved a number of issues. So we are very disappointed that they have , despite all this, decided to press ahead with this unnecessary strike action which will only disrupt Londoners and lose staff pay.  I would urge the ASLEF leadership to continue talks with us to resolve their outstanding concerns rather than taking strike action.'

Customers are advised to plan ahead and check before they travel. For the latest information use the contact details below or follow @TfLTravelAlerts and @centralline on Twitter.  

The Waterloo & City line will be impacted by the ASLEF industrial action because Waterloo & City line train operators also operate trains on the Central line.