Power outage hits London Underground, leaving thousands of commuters stranded

May 12, 2025 08:53 PM IST

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed that a brief outage, lasting only a few minutes, triggered significant system-wide impacts.

A widespread power failure in south-west London on Monday caused major disruption across the London Underground network, suspending multiple lines and leaving passengers stranded during the afternoon commute.

Commuters enter the London Underground at Waterloo railway station in London.(Bloomberg File)

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed that a brief outage, lasting only a few minutes, triggered significant system-wide impacts due to what is believed to be a “National Grid issue.” As a result, the Bakerloo and Suffragette lines were entirely suspended, while the Elizabeth, Jubilee, and Northern lines experienced severe delays and partial suspensions.

“When the power goes out, the trains will have stopped, obviously,” a TfL spokesperson told the PA news agency. “There’s emergency power on trains and in stations, so everything wouldn’t have gone completely black… but the trains would have stopped and we would have cleared some stations because without electricity, it might not necessarily be safe for them to be open.”

Eyewitnesses at Paddington station described scenes of confusion as TfL staff redirected passengers – many carrying luggage – away from Elizabeth line services and toward local buses as an alternative. The Bakerloo line entrance at the busy station was completely shut, with no immediate estimate provided for its reopening.

“It was a power outage. The lights just went off, we don’t know anything else,” one station staff member said. “It’s been about an hour and a half now. We can’t say when it will be fixed.”

Despite the disruption, TfL confirmed that no London Overground services were affected and said teams were working to restore Underground operations as quickly as possible.

While the exact cause of the outage remains under investigation, officials have approached the National Grid for further information.

News / World News / Power outage hits London Underground, leaving thousands of commuters stranded

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