Heathrow shutdown raises questions about back-up systems for Europe’s biggest airport
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent from World news | The Guardian on (#6W3BJ)
Airlines and passengers likely to face days of disruption after fire at substation causes travel chaos
Depending on whose fault it eventually turns out to be, this was a power cut in just the wrong - or right - place. As Britain's biggest airport, Europe's main gateway to the Americas, and the apple of Rachel Reeves's eye for growth, Heathrow's shutdown gave a supersized significance to a substation fire.
Some were quickly out of the blocks to question the creaking state of national infrastructure. Where were the back-up systems - or indeed the further failsafes when the back-ups went up in smoke?
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