London Power Outage Disrupts Tube and Businesses

A major power outage on May 12, caused by a failure at an electricity sub-station in south-west London, led to widespread disruption across the London Underground and Elizabeth line during the afternoon rush hour amid rising temperatures. Multiple lines, including the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern, and sections of the Elizabeth line, were suspended or suffered severe delays. Passengers were evacuated from trains and stations, including Embankment and Tottenham Court Road, as 26 stations—among them major interchanges like Paddington and Liverpool Street—were closed or partially closed. Hundreds of central London businesses were also affected by the loss of power. A separate fire alert resulted in the suspension of the Overground's Suffragette line. Although power was restored by around 3pm, services took longer to recover, and Transport for London permitted Tube tickets to be used on buses in the interim.