U.K. Power Failure Leaves Commuters Frustrated at Infrastructure
U.K was hit by a power outage during the Friday evening rush hour, disrupting trains and traffic lights across London, SE England.
(Bloomberg) -- London commuters faced transport chaos after the U.K. was hit by a power outage during the Friday evening rush hour, with trains and traffic lights disrupted across the capital and the southeast of England.
National Grid Plc restored power after issues with two generators were resolved, according to a tweet by the company. More than 800,000 customers were affected by the disruption, which came after government officials spent months working on proposals to overhaul the nation’s energy industry.
The incident raises questions about the state of the country’s infrastructure, which has had less investment than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development over the last three decades. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said Friday, before the outage, that he will publish a National Infrastructure Strategy in the autumn as the U.K. seeks to boost investment in areas including transport and digital connectivity.
Two power plants, which are not owned or operated by National Grid, went down leaving the network short of energy, said Gemma Stokes, a spokeswoman for the company. That tripped an emergency system that automatically shut down the grid to protect the system, she said. She didn’t provide further details on the plants that were affected.
The outage struck about 4:50 p.m. local time, and National Grid announced the restoration of supplies about 6:35 p.m.
Passengers at the City Thameslink rail station in London’s financial district were told to disembark while commuters hoping to board services were held at the ticket barriers. One train full of passengers emerged from the station into a powerful rain storm.
"It’s an absolute nightmare,” said Gary King, the 53-year-old managing director of recruitment firm Collins King and Associates."The railways aren’t very reliable compared to other countries. Well, why?”
The Conductor, a pub next to the station, was full of drinkers waiting for trains. Dozens of other passengers began walking or jumping on buses towards other stations to continue their journeys home. Nick Horsley, 59, a barrister from Brighton on the south coast was attempting to travel back there.
“It’s extremely upsetting on a Friday night," Horsley said. "It used to be slow and uncomfortable, but now it is slow and unreliable. I have just finished a five day trial. I’m tired, and I want to go home."
The power cut led to disruption on multiple rail lines around the capital, including the Gatwick Express and affected services on the London Underground’s Victoria Line. The Western Power Distribution electricity distribution network, which serves the English Midlands and parts of Wales, said there was a “major incident” on the national electricity infrastructure, before later adding power had been restored to its customers.
London Stock Exchange worker James Dronfield, 45, was facing a 35-minute walk from City Thameslink to St. Pancras station as he attempted to get a train home to a commuter town outside the city.
"They just need to get their messaging a bit better, don’t they? You turn up, and there’s nobody saying anything," he said. "It’s all a bit English and quiet. There’s no announcements or anything like that."
--With assistance from Lucy Meakin, Will Wade and Thomas Seal.
To contact the reporters on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net;Adam Blenford in London at ablenford@bloomberg.net;William Mathis in London at wmathis2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net
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