London Underground crippled by substation fire

London Underground lines reopened on Tuesday morning after an electrical substation fire brought the service to a standstill.

The Elizabeth, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines – as well as the Overground’s Suffragette Line – were all suspended on Monday, disrupting thousands of journeys.

High-voltage electrical cables in north-west London caught fire at about 2pm on Monday afternoon causing a “power blip”.

National Grid said although this only lasted “seconds” it caused hours of chaos which stretched into rush hour after safety systems triggered power cuts across lines.

However, on Tuesday morning, both the electricity company and TfL (Transport for London) said normal service had been resumed.

There were minor delays on the Metropolitan and District lines, with the Overground’s Mildmay Line part-suspended, although these delays were not caused by Monday’s incident, TfL said.