The streets of central London were visibly less busy than usual on Monday as the city's arterial underground train network was shut down as five days of industrial action unfolded.

The strike is the first on the service for three years and comes after members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, or RMT, voted to walk out after nine months of talks over pay and conditions failed to produce an acceptable result.

Transport for London, or TfL, said it had offered a "fair" pay rise of 3.4 percent, but that the union's demand for a reduction in members' 35-hour working week was not affordable.

The Standard newspaper quoted data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research saying the industrial action "could impose a direct economic cost of around 230 million pounds ($311 million)" and cost Londoners around 700,000 working days, with the full economic impact, taking in indirect losses, "significantly higher", in addition to causing increased congestion on the city's roads as people sought other forms of transport.

A union representative said the strike was not aimed at disrupting the public or small businesses, but was defending the health of workers.

The underground network in London has seen a reduction of 2,000 workers since 2018, and union members are "feeling the strain of extreme shift patterns", the representative said.

"This strike is going ahead because of the intransigent approach of TfL management and their refusal to even consider a small reduction in the working week in order to help reduce fatigue and the ill health effects of long-term shift work on our members," the spokesperson said.

"We believe a shorter working week is fair and affordable, particularly when you consider TfL has a surplus of 166 million pounds last year and a 10 billion pounds annual operating budget."

A BBC journalist reported seeing a lineup of 85 people waiting for a bus outside Waterloo Station, one of the major train stations for services to and from southwest London.

"Nobody wants to see strike action or disruption for Londoners," said a spokesperson for London Mayor Sadiq Khan. "Strikes have a serious impact on London's businesses and commuters. The mayor continues to urge the RMT and TfL to get around the table to resolve this matter and get the network re-open."

In addition to the disruption caused to commuters and visitors to the city, the strike has also led to the postponement of two concerts at Wembley Stadium by British band Coldplay, which issued a statement saying "without a tube service, it's impossible to get 82,000 people to the concert and home again safely, and therefore no event license can be granted".

julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com