{"id":17318,"date":"2026-04-19T18:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/17318\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:31:23","slug":"tube-strike-update-will-the-london-underground-strikes-be-called-off-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/17318\/","title":{"rendered":"Tube strike update – Will the London Underground strikes be called off?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the capital is set to see tube drivers strike this week, Londoners should prepare for alternative travel arrangements. The strikes by the RMT union are planned for Tuesday, April 21, and Thursday, April 23, with both lasting 24 hours. The strikes are set to affect the Piccadilly and Circle lines most<\/a>, with no service expected on either line. Last month, strikes were scheduled for March 24-29, but they were called off 6 days beforehand after<\/a> a breakthrough in talks.<\/a><\/p>\n

But how likely are they to be called off? Historically, Tube strikes are often called off with very little notice – sometimes less than 18 hours before the first picket lines form. Because negotiations often go down to the “eleventh hour”, a cancellation can happen while you are literally setting your alarm for the next morning<\/p>\n

For example, in January 2024 – strikes were called off on a Sunday afternoon (around 5pm) for action that was due to begin that same evening\/Monday morning. But even if a strike is called off the night before, disruption often still happens. This is because trains and drivers are not in the right positions, and TfL cannot magically reset the entire network’s logistics overnight.<\/p>\n

As of today – Sunday, April 19 – we are in the “danger zone” for these strikes, which are scheduled to begin this Tuesday, April 21, at midday. Reports from Friday indicated that “no formal peace talks” were scheduled between TfL and the RMT.<\/p>\n

Because the RMT has scheduled six walkouts through June, they may feel they have the leverage to let this first round happen to “show strength” before entering in to more negotiations ahead of the May or June strikes. If you are traveling this week, you should plan as if the strikes are happening<\/p>\n

Posters and announcements are already warning passengers to expect \u201csevere disruption\u201d during strike periods. Each 24-hour walkout is timed from midday to midday, meaning disruption is likely to affect services across two consecutive days.<\/p>\n

Strike schedule in full:<\/p>\n

March 24\u201325 (cancelled)<\/p>\n

March 26\u201327 (cancelled)<\/p>\n

The following service levels are expected:<\/p>\n

Piccadilly Line: No service expected.<\/p>\n

Circle Line: No service expected.<\/p>\n

Central Line: No service expected between White City and Liverpool Street.<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Line: No service expected between Baker Street and Aldgate.<\/p>\n

Other Tube Lines: A reduced service will run across most lines, but significant disruption is expected.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth line, DLR, and London Overground: These services will run as normal but are expected to be very busy.<\/p>\n

While the vast majority of London\u2019s bus network will operate normally, seven specific routes will be affected by a separate strike from 5:00 AM on Friday, April 24, until 5:00 AM on Saturday, April 25. Affected Routes: 8, 25, 45, 205, 425, N8, N25, and N205<\/p>\n

This strike action, is the first in a series of planned strikes between April and June. According to RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey, TfL has been ‘unwilling’ to make any ‘concessions’ that would end the strikes.<\/p>\n

He said: “We have approached negotiations with TfL in good faith throughout this entire process. But despite our best efforts, TfL seem unwilling to make any concessions in a bid to avert strike action. This is extremely disappointing and has baffled our negotiators<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach of TfL is not one which leads to industrial peace and will infuriate our members who want to see a negotiated settlement to this avoidable dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timeline of recent London transport strikes<\/p>\n

2022 (June\u2013August): Multiple Tube and rail walkouts over pay and job security during a wave of national strikes across the UK.<\/p>\n

2023 (March & July): Tube drivers staged 24-hour strikes over pensions, pay freezes, and working hours.<\/p>\n

2024 (January): Sir Sadiq Khan averts RMT strike after finding \u00a330m for pay offer.<\/p>\n

2024 (April): Planned strike by ASLEF was cancelled after improved pay offer.<\/p>\n

2024 (November) – RMT and ASLEF strike called off at the last minute due to improved pay offer.<\/p>\n

September 2025 Seven-day Tube strike and DLR strike action over fatigue, shift patterns, and wage disputes.<\/p>\n

March 2026: Two 24-hour strikes were suspended by RMT after the union claimed TfL was willing to negotiate about plans to impose a four-day week. Two extra strike dates were added in March<\/p>\n

April, May and June 2026 (planned): Two 24-hour strikes have been planned each month as the RMT is pushing for a 32-hour working week spread over four days, instead of the proposed 35 hours week.<\/p>\n

*Strikes which went ahead are in bold<\/p>\n

Elizabeth line, DLR, London Overground,<\/a> and National Rail workers are not in the same bargaining unit, so these services should be running as normal, although there could be some knock-on disruption. During September’s Tube strikes some stations opened late due to staff having difficulties getting to work.<\/p>\n

Claire Mann, TfL Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement: ‘We have set out proposals to the RMT for a four-day working week. This allows us to offer train operators an additional day off, whilst at the same time bringing London Underground<\/a> in line with the working patterns of other train operating companies, improving reliability and flexibility at no additional cost.<\/p>\n

‘The changes would be voluntary, there would be no reduction in contractual hours and those who wish to continue a five-day working week pattern would be able to do so. We urge the RMT to call off this action, which will disrupt Londoners, and continue to engage with us. If this strike action goes ahead, customers should check before they travel as on some days during the strike, there will be significant disruption, and the level of service we can provide will vary across lines.’<\/p>\n

If the strikes do go ahead, customers are urged to check their journey before they travel and to allow extra time to complete it.<\/p>\n

To see all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your area, enter your postcode below or visit the Public Notice Portal HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the capital is set to see tube drivers strike this week, Londoners should prepare for alternative travel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,1047,35,1457,8040,6716,8023],"class_list":{"0":"post-17318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-london","9":"tag-london-overground","10":"tag-strike","11":"tag-tfl","12":"tag-tube-drivers","13":"tag-tube-strike","14":"tag-tube-strikes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116432803158966362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}