Main subway line blacked out in Chile's capital

SANTIAGO, Chile — A power failure has knocked out the main subway line in Chile's capital, trapping thousands of riders and throwing Santiago's evening rush hour into chaos.

 

Passengers were stuck underground in train cars without lights, and it took subway workers about 40 minutes to begin began opening doors and leading people along the tracks to the nearest stations.

 

As the subway users streamed to the service, public buses became jammed because of insufficient numbers of vehicles.

 

Officials have not provided any information on what caused the power outage.

 

The failure came just days after several stations on another subway line had to be closed because a cracked rail halted train service. That shutdown also caused chaos in Santiago's bus travel, with riders arriving one to two hours late at their destinations.