http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1031193,00.html Power cut hits London
Thursday August 28, 2003
Tube and train travellers found themselves stopped short tonight after a power cut hit central and south London.
London Underground said the power failure was having a "serious" impact on the whole of the network. Rail services from major stations including Victoria, London Bridge and Waterloo were also affected.
A Tube spokesman said: "There has been a National Grid failure which has affected the underground. At the moment we are assessing the impact of that but it is having a serious impact on the whole system at the moment."
He added: "It's also having an affect on some of our buildings. Certainly quite a lot of the network appears to be affected."
He said the failure happened around 6.15pm and there were likely to be a number of people stuck underground.
"There will be travellers underground. I don't know the extent of that yet. It's at the end of rush hour, the peak period, so it's a busy time," he said.
By 7pm power had been restored to some blacked-out parts of the capital, including Bank and Waterloo. Trains stopped at stations began moving again.
A spokesman for electricity network operator EDF Energy said: "We have lost supplies to large parts of south London in the last few minutes as a result of a National Grid failure supply in the south London area. It's difficult to predict how long this is going to take. National Grid has got to get the circuit back."
A spokesman for British Transport Police said the power cut had affected all major railway stations in south London.
"There is no power in a lot of stations and no trains running in the whole of south London," he said.
"All major stations - Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo - are affected and all main train lines have stopped. Some stations are in darkness and others have emergency lighting."
Euston station was evacuated due to overcrowding, believed to be because passengers cannot get on to the Tube.