London's tube workers on strike

London : the Tube workers on strike

The workers in London's Tube have literally jammed the Tube system with a one-day strike. As about 3.5 million people a day use the London Tube, each day of strike costs the city £47,355,000 (=75 million dollars)  the London Chamber of Commerce estimates. Commuters are crowding buses and overrunning the remaining operating service.

The Tube workers are opposing plans to cut some 800  ticket office jobs.  "The past week or so has seen labor strikes across Europe, as governments there make deep cuts in spending to make up for increasing deficits." NPR news say.

____________________

The Tube, or underground, is the British for the U.S. "subway" : a train circulating underground, especially in large cities. Paris' underground is named the  "Métro".

THE TUBE : a little HISTORY

First, why is it called the "Tube" ? The answer is quite easy : this nickname comes from the nearly circular tube-like tunnels through which the small profile trains travel. The photograph below shows a northbound Northern Line train leaving a tunnel mouth just north of Hendon Central station :

Photo and caption by Spsmiler, in the Public Domain

                  A few key facts and figures : 

click on ^^^ the above photo

You'll also find a history of the London underground in this Simple English Wikipedia article :

... and here, you'll get the  >>> London Transport Museum