Tube strikes today: Two lines partially reopen after Londoners endure second day of travel misery

London has been brought to a chaotic standstill for the second day running amid an ongoing week-long Tube strike.

The partial reopening of the Northern line did little to alleviate issues and the closure of the DLR extended the disruption to east and south east London.

Commuters were stuck in tunnels under Liverpool Street station as they flocked to the Elizabeth Line, the last open line on the network.

Finding an Uber became a needle in a haystack as herds of bright green Lime Bikes clogged up the gridlocked roads.

Today is set to test the patience of Londoners battling to get to work as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is also closed.

There is no DLR service today or Thursday as part of separate industrial action. Most Tube lines have little to no service today either.

The Northern line has reopened, but services have to skip some stations as they remain closed due to staff availability.

TfL confirmed that services are operating on the entire line with minor delays and some stations closed, while the Piccadilly line has a reduced service between Rayners Lane, Arnos Grove and Cockfosters.

However, passengers should still complete all their journeys by 6pm and check the latest updates on the TfL travel status app and website as not all stations are open.

Mandy Charlton, who is known as Mandy the TikTok mum on social media and was travelling in the capital for work, said her four-mile Uber journey in London yesterday cost £38 as the roads were clogged up and her car took ’45 minutes to crawl across the city.’

She said the taxi queue at King’s Cross was ‘immense’ yesterday and she was not looking forward to travelling through central London today for a TikTok summit.

Mandy joked that she will have to ‘trade my body parts’ to cover expensive taxi journeys.

She told Metro: ‘Good luck to you and any Londeners today, I shall be glad to escape back to the North tomorrow. The Tube is so efficient.’

‘I love London, but right now I just want to go home,’ Mandy said.

Another passenger, who did not wish to be named, told Metro that Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station was ‘very busy, chaos’ with one escalator out of action.

They said it was an ‘accident waiting to happen.’

Major roads into London were congested at rush hour today, with traffic appearing to be stationary on the A40, A2, A13 and M11 as more people are likely to travel by road.

The M4 heading into London had ‘long delays,’ with around six miles of congestion and 90-minute delays on approach to junction 2, National Highways warned.

The strikes are going ahead after the talks between the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and TfL have stalled. RMT members are calling for a 32-hour working week after ‘long-term health effects from working extreme shifts and fatigue.’

TfL has described the shorter working week as ‘neither practical and affordable.’ It has offered the union a 3.4% pay increase instead.

Commuters and London leaders have urged RMT and TfL to reach an agreement soon.

One frustrated commuter told TfL to give the staff ‘whatever they want man, I’m having a horrific morning.’

No 10 Downing Street weighed in on the transport drama, calling for RMT and TfL to ‘get back around the table when it comes to these strikes.’

What lines have no service today?

Here are all the Tube lines that are suspended today with no service.

• Bakerloo
• Central
• Circle
• District
• DLR
• Hammersmith & City
• Jubilee
• Metropolitan
• Victoria
• Waterloo & City

These lines have limited service today, but passengers should still complete all journeys by 6pm and check before travel:

• Northern
• Piccadilly

The Tube will be suspended between Monday and Thursday inclusive, while the DLR is not running on Tuesday and Thursday.

What TfL services are open today?

Most of the Elizabeth line, the majority of the Overground routes, buses and the tram are running today.

The Mildmay Overground line has no southbound service from Willesden Junction to Shepherd’s Bush.

Commuters can also use Santander, Lime, Forest and Voi bikes as normal, although some bike routes are reportedly ‘dangerously’ packed.

Metro’s head of newsletters Sophie Laughton said Hyde Park on a bike was ‘a death trap.’

‘So many inexperienced cyclists doing dangerous things at 16mph and traffic was the worst I’ve ever seen it,’ she said.

Meanwhile, National Rail services are running as usual.

Is the Elizabeth line affected by the strikes today?

The Elizabeth line is up and running today, but trains are likely to be busier than usual, and there are some delays on it unrelated to the strike.

Trains running between Shenfield and Romford are running at a reduced speed until midday over a defective track at Harold Wood. This means trains could be cancelled or delayed by up to 20 minutes, National Rail warned.

TfL said today: ‘While other services will be operating, we’re expecting them to be busy and there may be instances where stations with shared Tube services face disruption, such as many in the central section of the Elizabeth line.’

One passenger said this morning: ‘At least Elizabeth line is running this morning, but my god it’s rammed.’

But another commuter had a different experience on the Lizzy line this morning.

They said: ‘I left home early because of the tube strike. The Elizabeth Line is fine and now I’m super early like a weirdo.’

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