MORE than 40 per cent of London’s Tube trains are operating this morning despite a strike on London Underground called by the leaderships of the RMT and TSSA unions, Transport for London has said.

The transport body says more services are running than during the last strike, with 70 per cent of stations being served.

A special service is running through the East End on the District Line between Upminster and Ealing Broadway and Wimbledon and on the Central Line, although Bethnal Green Underground Station was closed this morning due to strike action.

The Hammersmith and City line is only operating between Hammersmith and Edgware Road and the Circle line is suspended.

Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground, said: “We are doing everything we can to keep as many Tube services as possible operating today and more trains will be coming into service as the day goes on.

“Londoners will face some disruption, but over 40 per cent of Tube trains are running with services on all but one line, meaning that the city is not paralysed and people are able to get around. More services are operating than during the last strike, exceeding our earlier expectations.

“Under our plans all stations will continue to be staffed, and that all stations with a ticket office will continue to have one.

“The changes we’re proposing to ticket office opening hours are in line with customer demand, so that our employees are deployed in those places at those times where passengers most value their help and reassurance. These changes come with a cast iron guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.

“Yet the RMT and TSSA leaderships continue to try to disrupt Londoners despite the fact that more than half of these post reductions have already been settled.

“It’s not too late for the RMT and TSSA leaderships to see sense and call off this futile strike, and return to constructive talks. All this strike will achieve is the loss of another day’s pay for frontline staff.”

TfL said services may vary throughout the day depending on resources available. Although there will be disruption, passengers are urged to check before they travel to see how Tube services are operating.

Services are operating on the buses, DLR, and London Overground. Extra bus services have been provided, along with extra capacity for an additional 10,000 journeys on river services, marshalled taxi ranks, and guided cycle rides. Volunteers are on hand at bus, Tube, and rail stations to help passengers and distribute walking maps and other useful information.

The strike is due to end at 9pm tonight although services may not be back to normal until tomorrow morning.