London Tube system hit as strike begins

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) London commuters faced difficult journeys home today as the beginning of a 72-hour strike by maintenance staff on the Underground rail network hit two thirds of routes.

The walkout by 2,300 staff at collapsed contractor Metronet began at 2230 IST but services on many lines were hit ahead of time as trains were sent back to depots in advance of the strike.

Trains on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, maintained by another contractor, were due to run as normal, but were expected to be very crowded.

The Docklands Light Railway and other overland rail and bus services are also unaffected by the walkout.

The RMT union said its members were striking to win ''unequivocal'' guarantees on jobs, transfers and pensions following Metronet's collapse into administration in July.

But two other smaller unions, the TSSA and Unite, representing around 770 staff, said they had received the assurances they had been seeking and would not be joining the industrial action.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone called the strike ''one of the most purposeless ever called.'' ''All of the issues raised have been settled,'' he said. ''But the RMT insists on proceeding with an action which will severely disrupt the lives of millions of Londoners and lose RMT members hundreds of pounds to no purpose.'' Metronet's administrator, accountancy firm Ernst&Young, said it had made ''strenuous attempts over the last few days'' to contact the RMT but had had no response.

RMT leader Bob Crow said in a union statement today: ''The problem for all of us remains that Metronet and its administrator are the employer, and the qualified assurances they have given cover only the period of administration,'' he said.

''We have been seeking simple, unqualified guarantees from Metronet and its administrator that there will be no job losses, forced transfers or pensions cuts, and we have not had them.'' A second 72-hour strike has been called for September 10.

Metronet is responsible under a 30-year public-private partnership contract for the infrastructure of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Waterloo&City deep Tube lines, and the Metropolitan, District, Circle, Hammersmith&City and East London sub-surface lines.

It collapsed in July as banks denied it access to funds amid a projected overspend of about 2 billion pounds.

Ernst&Young has appointed investment bank Rothschild to value Metronet ahead of a possible sale.

Investment bank UBS is advising the government, a source close to the situation said today.

Metronet is owned by WS Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Bombardier Transportation (the rail equipment unit of Bombardier Inc.), EDF Energy (part of EDF SA) and Thames Water.

REUTERS PY KN2350