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Londoners were battling to work through rush hour chaos today as a 24-hour strike on two London Underground lines began after peace talks between TfL and a union broke down.

Commuters faced a triple-whammy of disruption as Tube drivers went on strike on the Central and Waterloo & City lines and rail workers on South Western Railway (SWR) walked out.

The Tube strikes, by Aslef train drivers, began just after midnight.

There will be no service on the normally packed Central line, used by 800,000 passengers a day, until Saturday morning.

The 24-hour walkout - due to a dispute over industrial relations - will also affect the Waterloo & City line and Central line Night Tube services on Friday.

Transport for London said it remains open for discussions on how to resolve the dispute

Tube Strike October 2018 - In pictures 13 show all Tube Strike October 2018 - In pictures 1/13 Commuters battle their way to work at Liverpool street station during today's Tube strike Alex Lentati 2/13 A huge crowd waits to board the Tube Alex Lentati 3/13 The Central Line is down all day today Alex Lentati 4/13 A queue of commuters wait to board trains at Liverpool st rugmarbles/Twitter 5/13 Commuters wait on the platform at Canning Town charliebach/twitter 6/13 The Waterloo and City line has also been affected by the strike charliebach/twitter 7/13 A commuter said she had to wait over an hour to get into Ilford station farhanafaiie/Twitter 8/13 Passengers are warned of the strike at Liverpool Street Alex Lentati 9/13 Underground staff were forced to close the tube entrance due to overcrowding Alex Lentati 10/13 Central Line commuters accused the Mayor of being at fault for today's strike bastonks/Twitter 11/13 A crowd this morning at Liverpool street Alex Lentati 12/13 Thousands of commuters were caught up in the strike action Alex Lentati 13/13 Commuters told of their frustration after getting caught in the delays Alex Lentati 1/13 Commuters battle their way to work at Liverpool street station during today's Tube strike Alex Lentati 2/13 A huge crowd waits to board the Tube Alex Lentati 3/13 The Central Line is down all day today Alex Lentati 4/13 A queue of commuters wait to board trains at Liverpool st rugmarbles/Twitter 5/13 Commuters wait on the platform at Canning Town charliebach/twitter 6/13 The Waterloo and City line has also been affected by the strike charliebach/twitter 7/13 A commuter said she had to wait over an hour to get into Ilford station farhanafaiie/Twitter 8/13 Passengers are warned of the strike at Liverpool Street Alex Lentati 9/13 Underground staff were forced to close the tube entrance due to overcrowding Alex Lentati 10/13 Central Line commuters accused the Mayor of being at fault for today's strike bastonks/Twitter 11/13 A crowd this morning at Liverpool street Alex Lentati 12/13 Thousands of commuters were caught up in the strike action Alex Lentati 13/13 Commuters told of their frustration after getting caught in the delays Alex Lentati

They apologised to customers for the disruption they faced on their commutes this morning.

It comes as those using SWR services into Waterloo were also hit with hundreds of train cancellations at the start of the 48-hour strike by RMT union train guards.

There will now be fresh attempts to get the union and Tube bosses talking again before a further damaging 24-hour walkout on November 7.

Tube Strike October 2018 - In pictures 13 show all Tube Strike October 2018 - In pictures 1/13 Commuters battle their way to work at Liverpool street station during today's Tube strike Alex Lentati 2/13 A huge crowd waits to board the Tube Alex Lentati 3/13 The Central Line is down all day today Alex Lentati 4/13 A queue of commuters wait to board trains at Liverpool st rugmarbles/Twitter 5/13 Commuters wait on the platform at Canning Town charliebach/twitter 6/13 The Waterloo and City line has also been affected by the strike charliebach/twitter 7/13 A commuter said she had to wait over an hour to get into Ilford station farhanafaiie/Twitter 8/13 Passengers are warned of the strike at Liverpool Street Alex Lentati 9/13 Underground staff were forced to close the tube entrance due to overcrowding Alex Lentati 10/13 Central Line commuters accused the Mayor of being at fault for today's strike bastonks/Twitter 11/13 A crowd this morning at Liverpool street Alex Lentati 12/13 Thousands of commuters were caught up in the strike action Alex Lentati 13/13 Commuters told of their frustration after getting caught in the delays Alex Lentati 1/13 Commuters battle their way to work at Liverpool street station during today's Tube strike Alex Lentati 2/13 A huge crowd waits to board the Tube Alex Lentati 3/13 The Central Line is down all day today Alex Lentati 4/13 A queue of commuters wait to board trains at Liverpool st rugmarbles/Twitter 5/13 Commuters wait on the platform at Canning Town charliebach/twitter 6/13 The Waterloo and City line has also been affected by the strike charliebach/twitter 7/13 A commuter said she had to wait over an hour to get into Ilford station farhanafaiie/Twitter 8/13 Passengers are warned of the strike at Liverpool Street Alex Lentati 9/13 Underground staff were forced to close the tube entrance due to overcrowding Alex Lentati 10/13 Central Line commuters accused the Mayor of being at fault for today's strike bastonks/Twitter 11/13 A crowd this morning at Liverpool street Alex Lentati 12/13 Thousands of commuters were caught up in the strike action Alex Lentati 13/13 Commuters told of their frustration after getting caught in the delays Alex Lentati

Finn Brennan, ASLEF’s organiser on the Underground, said in a statement: "The issues at the heart of this dispute are about people being treated fairly and with dignity at work."

During the strike, there will be limited or no Central and Waterloo & City line services all day on Friday, Transport for London said.

Central line stations likely to be busy:

Stratford Liverpool Street Tottenham Court Road Bank Oxford Circus Bond Street Holborn Ealing Broadway Notting Hill Gate

Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Mile End, Woodford, Leytonstone and White City stations will also be busier, TfL warned.

Passengers have been advised to use alternative routes on Tube, Rail and bus networks throughout the strike.

TfL said other lines will run normally but it warned that some may be busier than usual, including the Jubilee line from Stratford, and the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines from Liverpool Street.

Mr Brennan said: “Despite our best efforts, we were unable to make real progress at ACAS talks on the Central line dispute today.

“Management still refuse to move on the key issues in this dispute. Bizarrely, they are refusing to hold a review into the dismissal of a driver until Friday afternoon, 14 hours after the strike will have started!

"The issues at the heart of this dispute are about people being treated fairly and with dignity at work. It is simply wrong that a driver with 25 years of excellent service should be summarily dismissed for one error of judgment when dealing with a defective train or permanently removed from driving duties because they have time off sick after a traumatic incident.”

Nigel Holness, Director of Network Operations for London Underground, said: “I am disappointed that ASLEF has chosen to go ahead with this needless strike action, despite positive discussions over recent days.

"In those discussions we have made good progress on resolving most of their issues, but have not been able to agree on the reinstatement of a train driver who was dismissed for a serious breach of our safety regulations.

"The safety of our customers and staff is paramount and something we will never compromise. We remain open for discussions on how to resolve this dispute, and apologise to our customers for the unnecessary disruption.”

SWR said it will be forced to cancel a third of services, 550 trains, today and 750 on Saturday in the latest in a series of walkouts by guards protesting the implementation of driver-only operation.

London Overground, TfL Rail and DLR services will operate normally during the Tube strike, TfL said. But TfL Rail services via Ilford are expected to be busy.

National Rail services including Greater Anglia between Stratford and Liverpool are also expected to be busy.

Buses, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail will accept Tube single and return tickets and National Rail cross-London tickets on reasonable alternative routes, TfL said.