.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75&w=780&resize=780,470&ssl=1 "Everything we know about underground power outages in London")
But what causes the confusion? What exactly happened? Will this become a regular event for commuters in London?
At around 2:30 p.m. GMT, the interference seemed to start, when TFL announced a power failure that caused several delays and suspension on its network.
The lines affected include Bakerloo, Elizabeth, Jubilee, Piccadilly, Waterloo and City, Metropolitan and Northern Lines. Suffrage and weaver’s ground lines are also facing damage.
TFL
The National Railway also reported that the supply of electricity between the King’s Cross and the Alexandra Palace failed at around 5:46 p.m.
Three sites, namely South Kensington, Putney Bridge, Embankment and Charing Cross, were also completely closed, and the TFL website seemed to have collapsed.
Passengers also reported being trapped on a train, forced to walk up a broken escalator, or being left in a way that did not reach their destination.
The area, Mildmey, Circle and Hammersmith and the City Line are also facing delays, but this is not caused by the power outage.
TFL confirms that the damage is caused by a power failure. National Grid said it had a fault on the transmission network in central London, explaining that even if “the fault was resolved in seconds without interrupting the network”, a brief voltage tilt could have affected the power supply on the low-voltage distribution network in the region.
Claire Mann, TFL’s chief operating officer, said at the time: “Due to a brief break in power supply to our network, power was lost in a short period of time earlier this afternoon.
“We apologize to customers whose journey will be affected. We are working to get the entire network up and running again as soon as possible.”
A cable failure on the National Grid Network also caused a fire in the electrical substation of Maida Vale. Firefighters were summoned to the substation to control the fire before 17:46. It is understood that the three-meter high-voltage cable was damaged.
Maida Vale’s Cable Fire
LFB
“There is light smoke near the substation fire, so residents are advised to close windows and doors,” station commander Paul Meyrick said on the scene.
However, the fire is believed to involve different equipment.
How long did the interference last?
At that time, TFL could not clearly indicate when regular services would be resumed. The Elizabeth Line appears to be recovering for the first time around 7 p.m.
The remaining lines will face serious or minor delays, with the Becklue line fully suspended until 8:28 pm.
What are the lasting effects of interruptions?
Apart from the fire losses at Maida Vale, there is little lasting impact on Londoners. Services are more or less restored on all pipeline lines.
However, power outages have marked issues regarding capital power elasticity.
Responding to the power cut, Maryam Eslamdoust, Secretary General of the Union, said: “The loss of power on this scale is disturbing and very inconvenient for many in London’s pipes and other networks.
“At the moment, everyone’s safety is key, but in due time, we will need to properly ask what’s going on and what lessons to learn.”
Keith Prince, a conservative spokesman for the City Hall, noted several problems caused by the capital’s “squeaky infrastructure,” including cuts in Heathrow Airport, electrical combustion at Maida Vale and TFL disruption on Monday.
“The authorities need to make it clear to us what they are going to do to avoid this happening again,” he said.
