20.08.2007

Crane blacks out Oslo

A crane swung into a power line cutting electricity to more than a quarter of Oslo. The ccrane hit the power line in Oslo's Ulven district Monday morning.

Trams and trains stood still, office buldings and shopping centers were dark and minibanks stopped up when the power failure hit much of Oslo's downtown and east side around 10:20am.

Morten Schau, information chief at utility firm Hafslund, said the crane swung into a power line that cut electricity to the entire transformer station at Ulven on the city's northeast side.

Both the city's underground T-bane rapid transit system and its trams came to a halt, clogging traffic and disrupting service all over the city.

State railway NSB also lost power through the central train station, and information tables were blank.

Passengers were stranded for around a half hour. Trams with battery reserve systems were instructed to head for the next station and then wait until power was restored.

Hafslund workers scrambled to repair the damage and most power was back by 11:30am. Transit schedules, however, disrupted through the day.