Rail strikes expected to spill into Wednesday
Following a day of extreme disruption caused by rail and tube strikes, passengers should brace themselves for travel chaos to spill into Wednesday.
Around 60 per cent of train will run tomorrow due to a delay to the start of services as signallers and and control room staff are not doing overnight shifts.
Londoners were told to avoid taking the tube until Wednesday mid-morning, as London Underground services will not run before 8am.
Even though unions said that the strike’s turnout had been fantastic, data from YouGov revealed that only 37 per cent of people supported the walkout of more than 40,000 railway workers over job cuts and salary freezes.
Nevertheless, another poll published by Savanta ComRes showed that 58 per cent of people believed the action was justified.
Brits were told to work from home, as just a fifth of trains were running on Tuesday and half of all lines were closed.
Operators guaranteed a minimum service, with last trains departing much earlier than normal as the network is set to shut down at 6.30pm.
The strike had a significant impact on London’s businesses as data from retail analysts Springboard said retail footfall in central London had fallen 27 per cent on last week’s levels, while HospitalityUK figures revealed the three-day strike would cost the industry £540m.
“The impact of train and tube strikes today on footfall is very clear to see, with a large proportion of people clearly working from home,” said Springboard’s insights director Diane Wehrle.
“The latest evidence, from the day of the tube strike, indicates that footfall declined in central London whilst rising marginally in outer London.
“An increase in activity in outer-London centres has been synonymous with home working as people are able to frequent their local high streets more easily.”
Despite the strikes’ economic impact, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on the public to “stay the course” and endure strike action before the government is able to reform the country’s rail network, CityAM reported.