CatoCooper13
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Lights back on in London
AFP - The lights came back on in London after a major blackout during rush hour stranded hundreds of thousands of commuters, snarled traffic, and shut down most of the public transport system.
Power was fully restored about two-and-a-half hours after the blackout, said a spokesman for the National Grid, which operates the country's electricity system. Power was restored to most areas within 30 minutes.
The blackout, which occurred at 6.15pm (0315 AEST Friday), affected almost 60 per cent of the London underground rail network and a large number of electric-powered suburban commuter trains heading south out of the capital.
It came two weeks to the day after a massive blackout threw much of the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada into darkness.
London mayor Ken Livingstone called for an inquiry into the power failure, which he called a "disgrace".
"It is totally unacceptable that this has happened, affecting at least 250,000 people, as well as the transport system," Livingston said in a statement.
"Under-investment in the National Grid must not be allowed to cause this kind of chaos in a city like London. This event demands the fullest inquiry to ensure it does not happen again."
Livingstone said that as many as half a million people could have been affected by the blackout.
The power supplier to the area hit is EDF Energy, a subsidiary of the main French power utility, Electricite de France.
"Following a fault with high-voltage power lines ... EDF Energy worked quickly to mitigate the problems resulting from the fault, so that power could be restored to customers as quickly as possible," EDF said in a statement.
National Grid said it might take distributors time to fully restore supplies to customers, and that it was investigating the cause of the fault.
Major central London rail hubs such as Waterloo, Victoria, and London Bridge stations were badly affected by the power failure.
Thousands of passengers were stuck in tunnels when trains ground to a halt, and about 270 sets of traffic lights went out in many areas, causing confusion.
Meanwhile, thousands of commuters queued for hours to board buses and taxis.
"This disruption seems very similar to what happened in New York, and it's also a bit strange the two events have happened close together," said one stranded commuter, Alan Basford.
"It's quite amazing that a big city like London can be brought to a standstill like this," said another.
"The infrastructure is terrible, it's really quite worrying," she said.
An underground passenger said commuters were left stranded in a tunnel for an hour.
"The driver managed to pull back to a station. We cracked jokes," he said.
British Transport Police said power had slowly been restored to lines.
"We are obviously having difficulty in contacting staff in the places which have been affected, but things are now starting to move slowly," said a spokesman.
A spokesman for Network Rail, which maintains Britain's railways, said a stretch of rail measuring 32 to 48km, south of London, had been put out, affecting "tens of thousands" of passengers.
But many lines, especially in central and east London, had resumed normal service.
©AAP 2003
AFP - The lights came back on in London after a major blackout during rush hour stranded hundreds of thousands of commuters, snarled traffic, and shut down most of the public transport system.
Power was fully restored about two-and-a-half hours after the blackout, said a spokesman for the National Grid, which operates the country's electricity system. Power was restored to most areas within 30 minutes.
The blackout, which occurred at 6.15pm (0315 AEST Friday), affected almost 60 per cent of the London underground rail network and a large number of electric-powered suburban commuter trains heading south out of the capital.
It came two weeks to the day after a massive blackout threw much of the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada into darkness.
London mayor Ken Livingstone called for an inquiry into the power failure, which he called a "disgrace".
"It is totally unacceptable that this has happened, affecting at least 250,000 people, as well as the transport system," Livingston said in a statement.
"Under-investment in the National Grid must not be allowed to cause this kind of chaos in a city like London. This event demands the fullest inquiry to ensure it does not happen again."
Livingstone said that as many as half a million people could have been affected by the blackout.
The power supplier to the area hit is EDF Energy, a subsidiary of the main French power utility, Electricite de France.
"Following a fault with high-voltage power lines ... EDF Energy worked quickly to mitigate the problems resulting from the fault, so that power could be restored to customers as quickly as possible," EDF said in a statement.
National Grid said it might take distributors time to fully restore supplies to customers, and that it was investigating the cause of the fault.
Major central London rail hubs such as Waterloo, Victoria, and London Bridge stations were badly affected by the power failure.
Thousands of passengers were stuck in tunnels when trains ground to a halt, and about 270 sets of traffic lights went out in many areas, causing confusion.
Meanwhile, thousands of commuters queued for hours to board buses and taxis.
"This disruption seems very similar to what happened in New York, and it's also a bit strange the two events have happened close together," said one stranded commuter, Alan Basford.
"It's quite amazing that a big city like London can be brought to a standstill like this," said another.
"The infrastructure is terrible, it's really quite worrying," she said.
An underground passenger said commuters were left stranded in a tunnel for an hour.
"The driver managed to pull back to a station. We cracked jokes," he said.
British Transport Police said power had slowly been restored to lines.
"We are obviously having difficulty in contacting staff in the places which have been affected, but things are now starting to move slowly," said a spokesman.
A spokesman for Network Rail, which maintains Britain's railways, said a stretch of rail measuring 32 to 48km, south of London, had been put out, affecting "tens of thousands" of passengers.
But many lines, especially in central and east London, had resumed normal service.
©AAP 2003
Yeah...am wondering will Australia be next as well?! :P There was a brief black out up in Sydney last week, but it didn't last long...it was due to a big rain and thunder storm though.
