Passengers trapped in Tube line tunnels tell of ordeal

Up to 5,000 had to be rescued after the entire Jubilee line came to a halt yesterday evening due to a huge power failure. Nine trains were stuck in tunnels and passengers were trapped for up to three hours.

There were initial fears of a terrorist attack as the biggest-ever rescue of its kind began. Passengers were led along tracks between Canary Wharf and Canada Water, North Greenwich and Canary Wharf, Bermondsey and London Bridge, and Green Park and Westminster. Up to 700 were on each train.

There were no reported injuries. Today Tube chiefs launched an inquiry into the failure on the line from Stanmore to Stratford, used by 500,000 people a day.

Tariq Amin, 25, from West Ham, was trapped near Canada Water for three hours. The web developer, who filmed his experience, said: "When we stopped the driver apologised over and over again for about 15 minutes, and then nothing at all. People started to get agitated. Some were lying on the floor.

"I've never seen anything like it. Everyone got angry when we got out. There was a single-deck bus for hundreds of passengers." The crisis started at Neasden-Control Centre at 6.08pm, when a transformer blew, sparking a power failure. This took out the signals, CCTV, some traction current and the entire train cab radio system. Screens showing where 50 trains were located shut down.

"Everything went blank, we didn't know what was happening," said a senior Tube source. The Neasden centre controls the south of the line from Green Park to Stratford. The last passengers from this area were taken out at 9.10pm.

LU sent staff into tunnels to assure passengers there had been no terror attack. Commuters were led through the driver's door at the end of the trains and guided along the track. Phil Hendren, 32, on his way home from Green Park to North Greenwich, said: "Our train stopped 500 yards from the station. We were in the carriages for over two hours before we were led out. It was boiling. Staff who came to lead us out headed the wrong way up the tracks."

But many passengers praised the efforts of staff. George McInulty, service director for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, said: "Our drivers were brilliant, there were some real stars."

The Jubilee line was running today but there were severe delays earlier on the Northern, Bakerloo, and District lines.

VIDEO - TRAPPED ON A TUBE TRAIN

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