LONDON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Most of London's subways were running Friday morning and an investigation was underway, after a rush hour power outrage the day before.
A power outage in London and Southeast England hit Thursday just as people were returning home from work, stopping 1,800 trains and closing 60 percent of the London Underground, the BBC reported.
Some power was returned 30 minutes later and most power was restored within three hours, but because of jammed busses and taxis, the commute home took many several hours.
"We had an equipment failure on our system in Southeast London and that was followed within seconds by a second fault which caused the power cut," Mark Fairburn, the chief operating officer of the National Grid, told the BBC. He added that an immediate investigation is underway on the outage.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said that the subway used to have its own power supply, but it was cut "presumably as an economy measure."
