Why the London Underground will be closed next week

Millions of London commuters are preparing for public transport chaos next week as strikes are expected to shut down the city’s underground subway system for several days.

The planned strikes will be so widespread that authorities are warning people about them only travel on the London Underground if their journeys are ‘essential’.

Members of the National Union of Railway, Maritime and Transport Workers, or RMT, announced the action amid disputes over wages and working conditions.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is expected to be closed?

Almost the entire London Underground will offer “little to no service” for the next week.

The train service ends early on Sunday, stops almost entirely between Monday and Thursday and starts later on Friday, January 12, according to Transport for London, which runs the city’s public transport.

Tube employees, including drivers and workers responsible for network control, signaling and station operations, will strike from Friday to Thursday, January 11. according to the RMT union.

The closure will cripple the primary lifeline of commuters in the city. The extensive underground network of more than 270 stations, covering approximately 400 kilometers, enables up to 4 million trips per day, according to the transport company.

So how can people get around?

Other forms of transportation will operate normally, even though they may experience unusually large crowds.

Commuters can use the London Overground, which runs through most of the London boroughs and other parts of Greater London; the Docklands Light Railway, which serves the east and south-east of the city; and trams connecting parts of the south of the city.

Also operating will be the recently opened east-west Elizabeth Line, which connects to part of the underground network and Heathrow Airport.

But under pressure from extra commuters who would otherwise take the Metro, transport authorities have warned people to brace for crowds.

Buses will run on the roads as usual next week. (Bus drivers have held their own strikes overpaid.) Travelers have also been encouraged to use various bike-sharing systems around the city, or to walk.

Pay attention to the (wage) gap.

The strikes are part of long-standing tensions between the transport agency and the thousands of workers who run trains and railways through Britain’s hubs, and who have expressed dissatisfaction with wages after inflation spiked last year.

Previous strikes caused disruptions last year, with the union accusing transport authorities of allowing funding shortfalls to affect workers’ salaries.

During their last negotiations, the transportation agency offered employees a 5 percent pay increase, which some workers from a separate union accepted.

But RMT members rejected itarguing that the wage increase was below the inflation rate and that the offer did not meet other employee demands.

The strikes follow a ‘winter of discontent’.

Britain is no stranger to industrial action, but a flood of inter-industry disputes in 2022 has taken strikes to a new national level of concern last winter. When inflation rose to double digits, machinists planned strikes, as did nurses, postal workers and teachers.

These strikes, commentators noted, reflected a “winter of discontent” from 1978 to 1979, when strike action paralyzed the country.

Last winter’s strikes, which knit and disrupted daily life across Britain for months, eased somewhat last year as deals were struck. The government agreed to a deal that would give a million health care workers, including nurses and paramedics, a pay increase. Waste collectors, postmen and bus drivers have also signed new deals.

But some agreements still need to be finalized.

Junior doctors in England, for example, staged a strike on Wednesday over pay and working conditions, forcing the cancellation of appointments and operations.