Millions of Londoners battled to get to and from work in freezing conditions today as the city's underground rail workers staged a 24-hour strike, their fourth walkout since September over proposed station job cuts.
Transport for London (TFL), which operates the publicly controlled network, said 10 of its 11 lines were open, though many were not fully functioning, trying the patience of commuters.
TFL said the Tube had carried half the usual number of passengers during the day.
London Underground had operated half its usual number of trains for "large parts" of the day and it intended to keep up to 40 per cent of services running during the evening, it said.
TFL said more than three-quarters of the 270 underground stations were open. But unions said 114 had been shut, accusing management of operating "ghost trains" with few people on them in a public relations exercise.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' (RMT) union said industrial action had been "rock solid", knocking out or severely disrupting most lines since the strike began yesterday evening.
"We will review the strategy this week and look at the tactics required to stop these attacks on jobs, services and safety and that includes looking at ratcheting up the action," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said in a statement.
TFL said good services were operating on the capital's bus network, Docklands Light Railway and overground trains.
A cold snap gripping the country piled on the misery for commuters as they cycled, walked, took taxis or queued for buses with the Met Office forecasting icy conditions would last for a number of days.
However, London has been less badly affected than northeast England and Scotland.
The Tube carries some 3 million passengers daily and business lobbies have said the stoppages cost the capital up to £50 million per day.
Reuters