PASSENGERS on London’s new Elizabeth Line face severe disruption on Thursday as the Crossrail service is hit with its first ever strike over pay and pensions.

RMT, TSSA and Prospect said that the industrial action will paralyse the central section of Transport for London’s (TfL) flagship line, which links Reading and Essex via the capital. 

Bosses at Rail for London (Infrastructure) Limited, a wholly owned TfL subsidiary which runs the central section, offered traffic managers, infrastructure workers and incident response staff a below-inflation 4 per cent wage offer for 2022.