Four Day Piccadilly Line Strike Now Underway

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Frustration for London's travellers as RMT says action has 'rock solid support'

A four day strike on the Piccadilly Line has begun on Wednesday afternoon, with the line's Twitter account reporting @piccadillyline: " Piccadilly line is now operating with severe delays on the entire line due to strike action by RMT train operators. Please use alternative routes for your journey.

"Your ticket will be accepted on TFL Rail and London buses."

Meanwhile the RMT Union says that strike action by drivers on the Piccadilly Line is now underway and receiving the expected rock solid support from members, after LU bosses wrecked ACAS talks yesterday by refusing to bring any new proposals or make any serious progress on the core issues at the heart of the dispute.

Ahead of today's action, London Underground warned passengers to expect little or no service on the Piccadilly line between the afternoon of Wednesday 26 September and the morning of Saturday 29 September, due to industrial action by the RMT.

The Night Tube will also not run on the Piccadilly line on Friday 28 September.

London Underground says services will resume at around 3.30pm on Friday, but will then begin to wind down again from 10pm. Services will then resume to a normal level at around 7.30am on Saturday between Heathrow and Cockfosters and around 8.30am from Uxbridge to Acton Town.

For passengers travelling between Heathrow airport and central London, TfL Rail services are available to and from London Paddington station every thirty minutes, while Heathrow Express services are also running normally.

London Underground says all other Tube lines are expected to run as normal. However, interchange stations along the Piccadilly line – Finsbury Park, Green Park, Hammersmith, and King’s Cross St. Pancras stations in particular – will be much busier than usual. Additional buses will be in operation to help passengers complete their journeys.

Nigel Holness TfL’s Director of Network Operations for London Underground, said:"We will provide customers with the latest information in order to help them plan their journeys during this possible strike action.

"The TfL website, journey planner and social media channels will all feature up-to-date travel advice and will be updated throughout the week. We have met with the RMT leadership to identify areas where we can work together to resolve this dispute. I urge them to continue to work constructively with us so that Londoners aren’t subjected to disruption across several days next week."

TfL Travel Ambassadors are also at key locations to provide travel information and advice to customers affected by this action.

The dispute is over a comprehensive breakdown in industrial relations, abuse of procedures and the reneging on key safety and operational improvements promised by management after previous ‎rounds of industrial action.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said today: " Our driver members stand rock solid as the strike action gets underway in the fight for respect and justice in the workplace and a safe and supportive working environment on London's crucial Piccadilly Line.

"RMT is angry, frustrated and disgusted that tube bosses have wrecked the talks process this week by denying reality and refusing point blank to make serious progress on the core issues that have reduced industrial relations on the Piccadilly Line to a powder keg.

" That is a deliberate and irresponsible act by an LU management hell-bent on confrontation regardless of the impact on nearly 800,000 passengers a day on the main tube artery out to Heathrow Airport.

"The attitude of tube managers on the Piccadilly Line has been deliberately provocative and obstructive and it is that stance, including the back-tracking on operational, staffing and safety improvements agreed after previous rounds of action on the line, that led to the current dispute in the first place.

"The ball is firmly in management's court now but our members are sick and tired of being mugged off with bogus promises of improvements to the current dire industrial relations climate that never actually materialise. That position needs to change."

The RMT last called a strike in July to coincide with the visit of Donald Trump. The 52 hour industrial action was called off after last minute talks at the conciliation service ACAS.

You can see TfL's advice in full here.

September 26, 2018