Travel advice for customers ahead of Central and Waterloo & City line strike

24 January 2017

Transport for London (TfL) is advising customers using the Central and Waterloo & City line that services will be affected on Thursday 26 January, should planned strike action by train operators who are RMT members go ahead.

If it goes ahead, there will be no service east of Leytonstone and a reduced service running on the rest of the Central line all day on Thursday, while the Waterloo & City line will not run at all.

All other transport services will be unaffected by the action but some may be busier than usual as customers seek alternative routes.

For customers east of Leytonstone, local bus routes will be boosted with additional bus services but it is likely that buses will be busier than usual, particularly during the morning and evening peak times.
A special bus shuttle service will also operate between Epping and Chingford calling at Epping, Debden, Loughton and Chingford providing connections to London Overground services

Other stations and lines are also likely to be busy, including:

  • TfL Rail services between Romford and Stratford, particularly Ilford station
  • London Overground lines and stations between Liverpool Street and Chingford
  • Victoria line and stations, especially Walthamstow Central
  • The Jubilee line between London Bridge and Waterloo.
  • Customers may have to queue outside stations during peak times to prevent overcrowding, and it may take longer than usual to board a train.

There will be posters, digital boards and announcements in stations around the network and customers are advised to check before they travel at tfl.gov.uk/tube-strike and use TfLs live update services - @TfLTravelAlerts, @TfLTrafficNews and @TfLBusAlerts on Twitter.

This dispute concerns the need to move eight train operators in three depots on the Central line. These drivers need to move to other depots where they are needed so that we can provide the best possible train service to our customers. Following consultation and a great deal of further work, TfL has minimised the number of drivers affected to eight from an original 30, and has guaranteed that those required to move will have first preference on any future vacancies at their original location.

These moves are in accordance with TfLs agreements with the RMT and with other unions, which state that employees can be asked to work at any location on the network. No further moves are planned.

TfL has been in constructive discussions with the RMT union and talks took place at the conciliatory service ACAS in order to try to resolve the dispute.

Peter McNaught, Operations Director for the Central line, said: We apologise to customers for the disruption they may experience due to this unnecessary strike. We have made all reasonable efforts to resolve this dispute with the RMT through talking through the issues with them, and we have minimised the number of employees affected from 30 to eight. We urge the RMT to engage with us to resolve this issue and to withdraw the strike action, which will only cause needless disruption to Londoners.

ENDS
Notes to Editors

  • Other stations likely to be busy are Leytonstone, Leyton, Stratford, Mile End, Liverpool Street, Oxford Circus, Waterloo, Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Bank, Monument, London Bridge, Embankment, North Ealing and Ealing Common.
  • The action is scheduled for 21.00 on Wednesday 25th until 20.59 Thursday 26th January. Central line and Waterloo & City line services will finish between 30 minutes and 60 minutes earlier than usual on Wednesday evening, and will be affected all day on Thursday. The services will resume as normal at the start of traffic on Friday 27th January.
  • Trains will be less frequent than usual on the majority of the Central line trains will run:
  • about every five minutes between North Acton and Leytonstone at peak times (every 10 minutes off peak)
  • less frequently outside the peaks.
  • about every 10 minutes between North Acton and West Ruislip / Ealing Broadway at peak times (every 20 minutes off peak)
  • There will be no service east of Leytonstone or on the Waterloo & City line