Transport
for
London


has
attributed
widespread
disruption
on
its
railways
to
a
‘voltage
dip’
caused
by
a
fault
on
National
Grid’s
network.

It
has
apologised
to
passengers,
but
transport
watchdog
London
TravelWatch
has
criticised
TfL
for
not
keeping
the
public
updated
more
effectively.

Services
on
most
lines
are
running
normally
again
this
morning,
although
an
unrelated
incident
involving
a
passenger
was
causing
disruption
on
Underground
services
through
Barking
early
today.

Yesterday’s
power
cuts
affected
the
Elizabeth
Line
as
well
as
parts
of
the
Underground
and
Overground
networks.

Bakerloo
services
were
suspended,
along
with
those
on
parts
of
the
Mildmay
Line.
The
Circle,
District,
Jubilee,
Northern,
Piccadilly
and
Waterloo
&
City
lines
were
also
disrupted
by
delays
and
some
partial
closures,
while
many
stations
closed
for
a
time.
They
included
Covent
Garden,
Embankment,
Oxford
Circus,
Paddington,
Tottenham
Court
Road
and
Waterloo.

The
Suffragette
Line
on
the
Overground
was
also
closed
because
of
an
unrelated
fire
alert.

TfL’s
chief
operating
officer
Claire
Mann
said
today:
‘All
of
the
services
that
were
interrupted
due
to
a
power
supply
issue
to
our
network
were
returned
to
service
yesterday.
We’re
sorry
for
any
disruption
this
caused
to
customers.’

National
Grid
also
apologised,
saying:
‘The
fault
was
resolved
within
seconds
and
did
not
interrupt
supply
from
our
network,
but
a
consequent
voltage
dip
may
have
briefly
affected
power
supplies
on
the
low
voltage
distribution
network
in
the
area.’The
fault
is
reported
to
have
been
caused
by
a
fire
at
a
sub-station.

Network
Rail
encountered
problems
of
its
own
at
London
King’s
Cross,
where
a
downpour
caused
a
power
cut
on
several
platforms
in
the
main
line
station.
Staff
restored
the
power
and
cleaned
up
the
rainwater,
and
all
the
affected
platforms
were
reopened
by
about
18.00.
No
trains
were
cancelled.

London
TravelWatch
said:
‘We
are
glad
to
see
that
London’s
transport
network
is
back
up
and
running
after
the
disruption
yesterday.

‘While
incidents
such
as
these
are
unpredictable,
it
was
disappointing
to
see
the
lack
of
information
and
updates
on
TfL’s
own
social
media
feeds,
particularly
as
other
train
operators
were
keeping
passengers
updated.
Increased
traffic
to
the
TfL
website
also
saw
the
site
crashing
and
becoming
unresponsive.

‘We
accept
that
incidents
like
this
can
occur
but
do
expect
TfL
to
do
much
better
when
it
comes
to
communicating
with
the
millions
of
people
who
are
reliant
on
their
services.
Directing
all
passengers
to
their
website
is
not
practical
if
the
site
then
crashes,
and
people
need
to
receive
up-to-date
information
in
order
to
continue
their
journeys
with
the
least
disruption.

‘Passengers
also
need
reassurance
that
public
transport
services
will
be
more
resilient
in
future
to
incidents
such
as
this.’

Railnews
has
invited
TfL
to
comment.

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