A power outage caused major travel disruption on London’s Tube network on Monday, stretching into rush hour.

The Elizabeth, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines were among the routes either suspended or delayed, with several stations closed and passengers forced to evacuate.

A spokesman for Transport for London (TfL) said there was an outage in southwest London for “a matter of minutes” and “everything shut down”.

National Grid confirmed a fault on its transmission network, which was resolved in “seconds”, but led to a “voltage dip” that affected some supplies.

The London Fire Brigade said the fault caused a fire at an electrical substation in Maida Vale, and it’s understood firefighters destroyed three metres of high-voltage cabling.

Image:
The scene in Piccadilly Circus as passengers were evacuated

That came just weeks after a fire at the same substation, which saw elderly and vulnerable residents among those moved from their homes.

But today’s fire – between Cunningham Place and Aberdeen Place – is understood to have involved different equipment to the parts in the 29 April incident.

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TfL’s chief operating officer Claire Mann apologised for the disruption, adding: “Due to a brief interruption of the power supply to our network, several lines lost power for a short period earlier this afternoon.”

Passengers told Sky News of the disruption’s impact on their plans, with one claiming he would have had to spend £140 for a replacement ticket after missing his train.

He said he will miss a business meeting on Tuesday morning in Plymouth as a result.

Another said she walked to five different stations on Monday, only to find each was closed when she arrived.

Lines suspended and stations shut – as it happened

“Only on the last station did I find out it was a power outage affecting the entire Underground, after I approached ticketing staff,” she said.

“Again, no announcement made. So I looked for bus alternatives. In total, I spent two hours stranded in central London. Horrible experience.

“I feel bad for people who possibly missed their flights.”

TfL staff have said they are working to restore the entire network, with some disruption extending into Monday night.