Underground services are not running in central London on the first day of major strikes in the dispute between Transport for London and the RMT over pay, conditions and the length of the working week, which the union wants to see reduced from 35 to 32 hours.

There was some disruption yesterday, and widespread shutdowns are now set to continue until Friday morning as various groups of staff walk out in turn.

There are no services on the Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Piccadilly or Waterloo & City lines.

Other Underground lines are providing limited services on some outer suburban sections.

The Central is running between West Ruislip or Ealing Broadway and White City, and between Stratford and Epping or Hainault, but only via Woodford.

The Metropolitan is running only between Amersham or Chesham and Rickmansworth, and between Watford or Uxbridge as far as Harrow-on-the Hill, while the Northern is operating only between High Barnet or Mill Hill East and East Finchley.

The Docklands Light Railway will have no services tomorrow and Thursday, because of a separate dispute.

The Elizabeth line and London Overground are not directly affected by the strikes, but passengers have been warned that they may become very busy.

On National Rail, Chiltern Railways will not able to run between Great Missenden and London Marylebone tomorrow or on Thursday, because part of the route is owned by London Underground, whose signallers will be on strike. Chiltern trains from Aylesbury via Amersham will run non-stop between Great Missenden and London today, and again on Wednesday, because the intermediate stations from Amersham southwards are also managed by LUL.

TfL is offering a 3.4 per cent pay rise. Speaking before the weekend, TfL chief operating officer Claire Mann said: ‘We call on the RMT to suspend this action, put our fair and affordable offer to their members and continue discussions with us. Our pay deal is in line with other offers accepted by the RMT across the rail industry, so it is disappointing the RMT is planning to disrupt Londoners without giving their members a say on the offer.’

RMT's regional organiser for London Jared Wood told the BBC this morning that ‘it's not something we enjoy doing, our members lose all their pay as well and we do have enormous sympathy for people going about their business.‘

However he added that the RMT’s members believe ‘what we're fighting for is completely reasonable, affordable and it's only that London Underground just refuses to discuss it with us that we find ourselves in this position.’

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