London goes dark in major blackout

LONDON -- Power went out in parts of the capital and southeast England on Thursday, bringing much of the London Underground and many regional trains to a halt and trapping rush hour commuters in the tunnels.

Electricity was cut for about 40 minutes before it came back on at about 7 p.m., said EDF Energy, which handles some power transmission for London. The outages appeared to be confined to south London and Kent, a county southeast of the city.

A spokesman for the Underground said 60 percent of the subway system was halted at the height of the evening rush hour, including the majority of services in central London.

Officials said it was very unlikely the problem had been caused by any kind of sabotage.