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London faces travel chaos as Tube strike looms

The capital faces potential gridlock with the start of a 48-hour Tube strike Tube strike later today (Monday).


Rail, Maritime and Transport union members will stage a walk-out at 9pm, returning at 8.59pm on Wednesday.


It is thought service disruption could begin before the official walk-out and continue until Thursday morning.


The RMT and London Underground are in talks over plans to shut ticket offices, which will result in the loss of 960 jobs.


Transport for London has issued a document of travel advice to customers and said it plans to run as many trains as possible with extra bus and river services.


“We will run as many Tube services as we can but some lines may have only a limited service, and some sections will be closed,” it said.


The union and London Underground have met more than 40 times through the conciliatory service Acas since the last 48-hour strike in February.


Members of the RMT are also set to strike for 72 hours from 9pm  on May 5 if the dispute is not resolved.


RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash told the BBC: “This dispute is solely about cash-led cuts to jobs and services that would decimate Tube safety.”


He said the union was waiting on the delivery of a promise from London Underground to provide it with a station-by-station review of the cuts and their impact on staff, passengers and safety.


But the company said concessions had already been made including a promise that a supervisor would work out of every station, rather than one worker overseeing up to five stations.


There would be no compulsory redundancies, it added.

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