London's Underground system, the oldest in the world, carries around three million passengers daily.
Workers on London's Underground train system kicked off a 48-hour strike at 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, threatening chaos for commuters on Wednesday and Thursday.
Employees are protesting company plans announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson to close all 278 ticket offices on the London Underground with the loss of 950 jobs.
Dozens of "Tube" stations will remain shut and lines will either be entirely closed or carry a limited service as thousands of staff protest against hundreds of job losses.
The Central line, which runs east-west through the heart of the British capital, is expected to be particularly affected.
Two unions -- the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) -- are carrying out the strike over the closure of ticket offices
London Mayor Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron have condemned the strike, the former refusing to even negotiate with the unions until the strike is called off
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who made a specific promise during his election campaign for Mayor that he would not cut jobs on the London Underground, now says it is inevitable as the closure of ticket offices will give the company money to invest in modernising the Tube system
When reminded of his election promise by the RMT’sGeneral Secretary Bob Crow who phoned in on the Mayor’s weekly radio show on Tuesday Feb 04,2014, Boris Johnson said that since he made the promise in 2008 there have been huge technological advances resulting in fewer and fewer people using ticket offices. “The IPhone wasn’t even invented,”
Commuters were forced to take buses, overland trains, or simply walk to work.
The rush hour saw heavy traffic on central London streets, with pavements crowded with office-goers walking to work.
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