Major blackout strikes London

A major blackout stranded hundreds of thousands of commuters in underground tunnels and trains in London and southeast England after the national power grid system failed during the height of rush hour.

According to Mayor Ken Livingstone, 250,000 people were traveling via the subways and trains when the power went out at approximately 6:15 p.m. local time.

Energy officials report electricity was restored for most areas after 40 minutes.

A spokesman for the electrical network operator EDF told the Associated Press the problem originated in two high-voltage lines belonging to the national power grid that help supply the Wimbledon area of southeast London.

He added it was unlikely the outage was due to sabotage.

Scotland Yard also said there was nothing “suspicious” about the blackout.

Officials said 60 percent of the underground system was affected, creating chaos among the droves of workers headed out of the city.

“There is no power in a lot of stations and no trains running in the whole of south London,” a spokesman for British Transport Police told CNN during the outage. “All major stations – Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo – are affected and all main train lines have stopped. Some stations are in darkness and others have emergency lighting.”

Network Rail spokesman Kevin Groves described the situation as “unprecedented.”

“All trains have got no power at all. They are at a standstill. All signals are at red. Everyone is safe but nothing is moving,” Groves told Sky News. “We have back-up generators but they can’t be used in a power failure of this magnitude. You practically need a power station.”

The commute was also snarled above ground when street lights and some 270 traffic signals went out for a short time – including along the London Bridge.

Cabs and buses were swamped by travelers scrambling out of evacuated train stations.

Homes and businesses went dark across hardest hit areas in south London and hospitals had to rely on back-up generators.

There are no reports of accidents or injuries.