Tube passengers hit as body found on line

London Underground passengers faced fresh delays today when services were disrupted on three lines in the morning rush hour.

The Circle Line was suspended and there were severe delays on the District Line because of an incident at Bayswater, while the over-running engineering works led to delays on the Metropolitan Line.

A Transport for London spokesman said: "Just before 2.30am this morning our overnight maintenance patrol discovered a body in a tunnel between Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate. We are assisting the police investigation, which is now under way.

"As a consequence of this incident the Circle and District lines are disrupted this morning, with the District line suspended between Earl's Court and Edgware Road, and the Circle line suspended. We are working to restore services as quickly as possible."

There have been Tube delays virtually every day for the past few weeks.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union General secretary Bob Crow said today there was "unprecedented and continuing chaos" on the Tube.

Members of the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association have staged a series of strikes over job losses and are due to walk out again at the end of the month unless the deadlocked row is resolved.

Talks between the two sides were adjourned at the conciliation service Acas last night and will resume on Monday.

Meanwhile the Tube drivers' union Aslef is balloting its members for industrial action in a separate row over Boxing Day pay.

TfL added: "The Metropolitan line was suspended between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Aldgate first thing this morning for 20 minutes due to a cracked rail being discovered on routine inspection near Wembley Park, which had to be repaired.

"The Metropolitan line is now running with minor delays, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."