Transport editor Ross Lydall reports from Kings Cross Station all London Underground services are suspended

Evening Standard

Thousands of commuters faced a nightmare journey to work on Monday as Tube services were wiped out by staff walkouts.Hardly any London Underground trains are operating with a complete wipeout over the morning rush hour, as a five-day run of strikes by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) kicks in.Transport editor of The London Standard spoke to RMT's Jared Wood (London Transport Regional Organiser) about the ongoing strikes.

Transcript

00:00Make no mistake, if we make no progress, then what else can we do?

00:03We either have to just carry on and accept that nothing's going to change, or we have to do this.

00:09Good morning from King's Cross Station. It's day two of a five-day tube strike.

00:14King's Cross Station, one of the busiest stations in London, is closed.

00:18In fact, the entire tube network is closed.

00:21The RMT is out in force, and as things stand,

00:25three million journeys will not be made on the London Underground today.

00:29The strike began on Sunday morning, and the disruption was more than expected from every Sunday,

00:35with both the Bakerloo line and the Circle line completely suspended.

00:39By the end of Sunday, certainly into Sunday evening, the entire tube network was down,

00:44and it remains down this morning.

00:46Now, what is this dispute about?

00:48Well, it's primarily about working conditions and the hours that many tube station staff work.

00:53The RMT is seeking a 32-hour week.

00:56Staff typically work around 35 hours a week, but the RMT says there's big concerns about staff fatigue.

01:04It's holding out for a cut in hours, but transport from London does not seem willing to compromise whatsoever.

01:10That means that this strike could go on until Friday,

01:13unless there's some unexpected development over the course of the week.

01:17We want to see real progress.

01:19Members are absolutely exhausted.

01:21As you say, it's routine to start work at 4, 4.15am.

01:28It's routine to finish work at 1am.

01:31People work weekends.

01:33Some people do permanent nights.

01:35And it is absolutely exhausting.

01:37I did it for 20 years, and you never feel right.

01:41Your head's wrong, you get brain fog all the time.

01:45It's really difficult.

01:47It's important to say that not all of the London transport network is closed.

01:51Despite the tube strike, the Elizabeth line is still running,

01:54although trains were not stopping on Monday morning at Liverpool Street Station.

01:59The London Overground is operating,

02:01and the London bus network is running as well,

02:04although strikes are planned on some routes in West London later this week.

02:08But the advice would be, well, if you can walk, get a cab, or cycle like yourself,

02:13that's probably the easiest way to get around,

02:15because make no mistake,

02:16this tube strike is making life in London very difficult for millions of commutals.

02:21Well, we're not going to call it off without some sort of material progress.

02:24And unfortunately, we went to talk to London Underground last Wednesday.

02:29We expected to be there all day and probably back Thursday and Friday.

02:33But mid-morning on the Wednesday, London Underground said,

02:36well, look, we've got nothing new to say.

02:38They then sent us a letter saying that their position was their final position,

02:42and they've shown no interest in talking to us since.

02:46So, yeah, we're keen to try and make some progress on this.

02:49We need real, real tangible progress,

02:52but we're prepared to discuss with them what that looks like.

02:55But we can't do that sat there on our own,

02:58and the action will continue until we get some sort of resolution.

03:01We'll see you next time.

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