Hundreds of thousands of Tube commuters face major disruption from tonight and all day tomorrow as train drivers stage a lightning 24-hour strike on two lines in protest over the “forced” transfer of eight drivers to different depots.

Tube bosses are also trying to prevent even worse strike action from February 6 which would affect the entire network, used by more than four million people a day, over a separate dispute involving station staff. Talks are to resume today between conciliation service Acas and the RMT and TSSA unions.

Tonight’s strike will affect the Central and Waterloo and City lines. The Central line is used by up to 800,000 passengers a day and the one-stop Waterloo & City line between Waterloo main line station and Bank by upwards of 32,000.

The strikes, by drivers at the Hainault, Leytonstone and Loughton depots, begin at 9pm tonight and will last all day tomorrow. The two lines share the same staff pool.