Stansted Airport in chaos as train station evacuated after massive power outage
Stansted's railway station has been evacuated following a massive power cut that has affected the whole airport.
Planes have been delayed and shuttles are not running to and from gates, with one customer saying that "five planes full of people" were stuck at a flight transfer. Other travellers complained about being stuck on trains for up to 45 minutes.
In an update at around 4pm, GA West Anglia confirmed that no fire had been detected at the railway station, but a "burnt switch in an electrical room has been found". It added: "Network Rail response staff are going to attend and the emergency services are currently on site." The airport terminal was also affected, said the train operator.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Stansted said the airport is in the process of restoring its systems following an "earlier power outage", which has "been resolved but affected all of the systems". He told the Mirror: "The track transit system taking people to and from gates is still not functioning, and we're waiting for that to start working.
"There is a coaching operation in place, and the issue has been resolved but it's had a knock-on effect. It's a busy time of year and busy time of day, so this is going to roll on across the day potentially. There was a power outage earlier on that affected all of the systems.
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"It needed to be restored through various systems across the whole airport. Our focus now is restoring power to all of those areas that have been affected by that."
One passenger said that the "whole airport is down", and were having to wait on a plane for more than 50 minutes. Another stuck at check-in told the Mirror that the alarm "was still going", adding: "No real updates. We are all still in queues with no movement."
A third traveller said: "It's chaos. Flights are being partially boarded and then boarding abandoned. Multiple flight loads being sent to the same gate. Computer system is not reflective of flight status.
"The PA system has just come back online with an announcement to say we are trying to get all systems running, including the PA system." Greater Anglia earlier said that a "controlled evacuation" had taken place after fire alarms blared at the railway station.
A spokesperson said at around 6.15pm: “Services to and from Stansted Airport are currently disrupted due to a power outage. Passengers are advised not to travel unless their journey is essential.
"The power outage occurred in the airport terminal and on the railway station which caused the fire alarms to activate and the signalling to fail. Trains are only running between London Liverpool Street and Bishops Stortford, while response staff work to re-open Stansted Airport station.
"Rail replacement buses are currently in operation, however there are long delays. We will provide information via our usual channels, and we apologise for the disruption caused to passengers’ journeys."
One customer wrote: "Been stranded on the Stansted transport train for almost 45 mins now. No information. Emergency phone doesn’t work. Doesn’t bode well if someone was seriously ill."
Another said: "Arrived at Stansted from Spain only to be stuck waiting at the terminal for a train to take us to customs. It's been 30 minutes with no info." A third added: "Well Stansted Airport is fun, fire alarms going off, can’t get luggage or get through, we’re stuck!"
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A fourth tweeted: "Stansted Airport railway in darkness as power cut hits. All evacuated", while a fifth wrote: "Been stuck on a shuttle that was headed to passport control for close to 30 minutes now.
"No communication as to why and ironically the emergency phone on the shuttle, doesn’t work?" Another claimed that flights and luggage had also been affected, posting: "Chaos at Stansted airport. Flights delayed, transit trains stationary, no luggage handling."
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