Commuters face final morning of Tube disruption before trains resume

Londoners have endured almost a full week of Tube strikes with rammed Elizabeth line, buses, and Lime bike battles – with a couple more hours of disruption ahead.

This week has tested commuters’ patience while most of the Underground was closed after members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) walked out, leading to services being crippled since Monday with few underground trains running.

The commuter hell was made worse by heavy rain battering Londoners trying to get into work by any means possible, with long queues for taxis and surge pricing for private hire cars.

Metro spoke with locals and tourists who had their plans upended by the strike, with nurses and retail workers battling to get into central London on time.

This strike has been dominated by the ‘strikelist’ trend as riders who wouldn’t normally cycle filled already busy cycle lanes – and a battle for Lime bikes taking a more extreme turn as pedals were reportedly removed so that no one else could take the bike.

Limited Underground service started on some lines even during the strike when staff was available, taking some commuters by surprise.

The Tube strike has officially ended – but it isn’t back to business as usual quite yet.

When will the Tube service be back to normal?

London Underground said there will be no service before 8am today, with normal service on all lines by late morning.

The Docklands Light Railway will be running a normal service after it was closed on Tuesday and Thursday as part of the strikes.

Meanwhile, the Elizabeth line, which has been open throughout the strike, is expected to have normal service today.

In a separate issue, South Western Railway said it expected there may be cancellations, delays or alterations to services until 8pm after a tree blocked the railway between Clapham Junction and Earlsfield, which led to some lines towards Wimbledon being blocked.

SWR services towards Putney were also blocked because of a fault on a train at Clapham Junction. Delays and alterations are expected until 6pm.

Will the strike affect Tube this weekend?

The strike officially ended late yesterday, so the Tube should be back to business as usual by the weekend.

Although the strikes end officially on Thursday, there is no Tube service before 8am today, the latest advice from TfL says.

Normal Tube service is expected on all lines by late Friday morning.

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