London Underground Strike Threatens Rush-hour Chaos

LONDON, Jan 6, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 06th Jan, 2017 ) - Staff on the London Underground are to hold a 24-hour strike from Sunday after the latest round of talks aimed at solving a long-running dispute over job losses broke down on Friday.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said its members will walk out from 6:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Sunday, threatening travel chaos for millions of commuters during the Monday morning rush-hour.

Transport for London, the local government body responsible for the transport system in the capital, warned services would be "severely reduced" on Sunday evening and all day Monday.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash accused authorities of lacking "serious plans to tackle the staffing and safety crisis caused by the axing of nearly 900 safety-critical station jobs." The dispute is centred around the closure of ticket offices in order to reduce staffing levels, and has been the subject of strikes since 2014, with two strikes last summer crippling the network.

The Tube handles four million journeys every day, meaning many overground trains and buses become packed during the strikes.