Moscow underground trains ground to a halt
Posted on 05/25/2005 6:39:31 AM PDT by Grey Squirrel
Edited on 05/25/2005 7:08:13 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
I cannot believe this has not been posted yet. This is my first post so I apologise for any inconsistensies errors etc. Also I only have sources of my native language about so no URL.
Blackout in Moscow and six surrounding oblasts. Water supply out. Hospitals, subway, police, trafic lights, 80% of internet etc. etc.
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BBC NEWS | Europe | Moscow hit by major power outage
Public transport services ground to a halt, Moscow's main stock exchange stopped trading and water supplies to homes were affected.
The electricity outage was caused by a fire and explosion at a substation, the energy minister told parliament.
It is not clear what caused the blast. About 20,000 commuters are reported to have been evacuated from underground trains stranded by the outage.
A transport police spokesman said emergency power supplies were used to bring trains into stations.
Areas up to 200km (120 miles) south of the city were also reported to be have been affected.
Duma deputy speaker Vladimir Pekhtin ruled out the possibility that the power outage was caused by sabotage. He told NTV Mir that it was more likely to have been caused by a technical incident.
"We are checking the information, but we can now rule out deliberate sabotage," he said.
Rising temperatures
A spokeswoman for electricity monopoly RAO UES said the problem stemmed from a fire.
"The problem started yesterday evening. The reason was a fire in the switching equipment at the Chagino substation," she told Reuters news agency.
"Staff dealt with the fire and overnight changed the equipment. However during peak consumption time this morning the problem recurred."
The Micex stock exchange stopped trading for two hours as many of its clients did not have power.
There is some speculation that the power cut could have been due to an overload in demand as Moscow has seen unseasonably high temperatures and people have started using air conditioning.
Like I said on the other thread: I find this hard to believe. 
Good point.
I spoke to my son in Moscow yesterday. He said they were having a heat wave.
Sounds as though Moscow is experiencing an overload of the power grid that affected the U.S. and Canada in August '04.
My bad, August 2003.
"Moscow was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after a big power outage that President Vladimir Putin blamed on the state-owned electricity monopoly headed by a liberal politician viewed with suspicion by the Kremlin."
Flashbacks to 1972 life in the Soviet Union.
Welcome to FR...
I didn't have internet connection till now. But everything is OK in Moscow.
Hey, at least Russia has TOPOL-M ICBMs with scramjet maneuverable final stages.
What Rsukie cares about a black-out here and there when you are gaining strategic superiority over the U.S.?
Russia must be ahead of Western Europe in its development. I was a little surprised to read this, "and people have started using air conditioning." AC is still fairly rare in France and Germany. My only visit to Russia was in the winter, and I didn't have occaision to notice if there was any air conditioning then.
Welcome to FR.
State owned.... might be at least part of the problem.
Thank you for your time.
One of several things you are wrong about.
Russia has the potential of being one of our best allies. We have common enemies; they have large supply of oil and need a market, we have a market and need a large supply of oil; they are more free market oriented than the EU.
Generally speaking, most people here detest Russia, hence my post. Glad you enjoyed it.
I also remember the water machines in Moscow (like soda vending machines). They had a glass sitting on a little platform that you collect the water in after depositing your coin. You drink the water and put the glass back down for the next customer!
Practicing for something more sinister ..??
Maybe, just maybe, some of that water from the missing 1 million cubic feet of lake water from one of the Volga River tributaries east of Moscow near a town called, "Nihzegoroskaya" got into their subway system, or, underground electrical grid system - WHERE'D ALL THAT WATER GO?? Could it have been diverted purposely??
I think the Russian report of missing lake water (and, it is a substanial amount - 1 million cubic feet!) is a catastrophic nightmare, and has far reaching environmental/weather implications. Is any scientific, or any other organization following up on this?
Just thinkaboutit ok??
Like their lake that went missing overnight, I'm sure at some point they'll blame Bush.
Is it Stalin and two other comissars I don't recognize on the poster in the subway photo?
Serves them right.
Global Warming... yeah right!
Temps in New England lowest on record since they started keeping records (40s in CT). Been this way since last September.
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