Rail services on some of London’s busiest commuter routes have been brought to a standstill as drivers launch a fresh strike in a near two-year long pay dispute.
Members of Aslef at operators including those running services into the capital such as Southern, Southeastern and South Western Railway are walking out for the day. Affected operators are running no trains on the vast majority of the network.
Strikes will be held on Wednesday and Thursday at different operators, while drivers are also banning overtime until Saturday which is also causing disruption.
Passengers are being urged to check before attempting to travel by train this week.
Operators hit by today’s strike include Greater Anglia, Thameslink and Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern, South Western Railway, c2c and GTR’s Great Northern,
Follow the latest updates below...
Read More
Live updates
Minor delays to DLR
There are currently minor delays between Bank / Tower Gateway and Canary Wharf / Poplar due to an earlier customer incident at Limehouse - good service on the rest of the line.
In pictures:
Bakerloo line no longer delayed
The Bakerloo line has returned to running a good service.
Blackfriars station closed
Photos show that Blackfriars train station is shut as strikes have brought Thameslink trains to a halt - except a severely reduced service between Kings Cross and Luton, Luton Airport and Cambridge.
Metropolitan line delays now minor
There are currently minor delays between Moor Park and Amersham / Watford due to an earlier points failure at Rickmansworth.
Hammersmith and City line no longer suspended
The Hammersmith and City line was part suspended - between Liverpool Street and Barking - but it is only facing minor delays now - on the whole line.
District line no longer part suspended but severely delayed
There are severe delays across the whole line because of a faulty train at Plaistow.
Circle line delays back to minor
Circle line delays were severe but they are now minor again.
What has Aslef said about why they're striking?
The union has said: “We have negotiated pay deals with open access operators, freight operators and passenger operators in Wales and Scotland all whilst we have been in dispute with what is unfortunately a growing number of passenger operators, this has highlighted that this current dispute is one pushed by the Conservative Westminster Government as all of the employers who we are in dispute with are under the DfT's control.
“To resolve the dispute as it now involves multiple employers, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) stepped in to handle negotiations on behalf of all the train operating companies. We negotiated in good faith with the RDG and believed a deal could have been reached. However, the offer that we received in April 2023 contained red lines which we had outlined to the RDG in our negotiations. This offer was made by the RDG with the intention of it being rejected.
“As requested in the offer, we informed the RDG that the offer had been rejected but they have refused to come back to the negotiating table which has left us with no choice but to continue with our industrial action.”