Piccadilly and District lines completely suspended and Circle line hit with delays following signal systems failure
The Piccadilly and District lines were completely suspended and the Circle line hit with severe delays following a signal systems failure, TfL has said.
Passengers were stuck on unmoving trains between stations for nearly an hour after Earl's Court suffered a major signalling problem during morning rush hour.
TfL urged travellers to replan their journey and said Tube tickets were being accepted on local buses, which became increasingly busy with crowds. Customers will also be automatically refunded for the disruption, TfL said.
By 10.30pm the routes had reopened although the District, Piccadilly and Hammersmith and City lines still operated with severe delays. The Circle line was suspended between Edgware Road to Aldgate via Embankment.
One angry commuter on his way to work in Westminster said his train was stuck at South Kensington before passengers were turfed out at Earl's Court.
Other passengers were not even able to disembark as trains ground to a halt for nearly an hour in between stations.
Been stuck on @districtline for almost an hour. Driver mumbling into crackling intercom so people have no idea how long we will be stuck
— Jack Gelsthorpe (@JackGelsthorpe) June 26, 2017
Been Stuck on this @Piccadillyline train for more than 45 mins @TfL what's going on
— Tony Spreadlove (@TonySpreadLove) June 26, 2017
Stephen Watson was stuck on an unmoving Circle line train between High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road for nearly an hour after the line ground to a halt at 9.25am.
He said the air conditioning and Wi-fi has made the long delay a little easier to endure.
Complete power failure on tube @TfLTravelAlerts @circleline but thankfully air-conditioning on new tubes still working and wifi! pic.twitter.com/Aq1ClljTYB
— Stephen Watson (@StephenWatson39) June 26, 2017
Mr Watson told the Standard: "Driver says it's a serious power and signal failure. He 's just said we should sit and make ourselves comfortable. At least we're cool.
"Driver says they know we're here and that they're trying to move one train at a time... we're going to be the last apparently."
Luke Francis, who is also stuck on the same train, said the mood is "fine" but added: "A few people sitting on the floor which is a vert unsettling thing to see on the Tube."
A Piccadilly line passenger said they had been stuck on a train at Baron's Court for nearly half an hour while commuter Isabel Baquero-White said she had also been stuck on a train between North Ealing and Ealing Common for 30 minutes.
@piccadillyline Stuck on a train at Barons Court for the last 27 mins
— V PERERA (@VPERERA1) June 26, 2017
Currently sat outside Acton Town on a district line train with no communication from the driver 🙄 https://t.co/ylVZaK9XEG
— Kerri (@_kerriprince) June 26, 2017
Can you please give an update. Stuck on this train for 30mins between North Ealing-Ealing Common and very late for my work at @LAMDAdrama
— ISABEL BAQUERO-WHITE (@isabauk) June 26, 2017
City University student Naz Altinok, who was travelling on the Piccadilly Line, said on Twitter: "How do you expect me to go to work when you suspend the line and the buses can't even open the doors due to the crowd."
A spokesman for TfL said it was not yet known how long the problems will last for.
He said workers were in the process of switching power from a local supplier to a London Underground power supply.
On Twitter TfL said engineers were working "furiously" and "as fast as they can" to fix the problem.
Steve White, operations director for London Underground, said: “We are very sorry for the disruption caused to customers this morning which was due to a power network failure in the Earl’s Court area at around 9.30am.
"Our engineers worked hard to get services running normally as quickly as possible by using our backup power supply.
"We will be automatically refunding any customers affected by the disruption by the end of the week. Customers who have not received a refund by this time should contact TfL via the website or our customer services department.”