Substation cable trench fire and cable puncture cause Chennai power cuts
Feb 2024Published 24 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Tangedco
What happened
An underground cable puncture and a minor fire in the cable trench at the Mylapore substation in Chennai caused power interruptions in the locality in the week of 21 February 2024. The report, published on 25 February 2024, gives only the days of the week, so the exact dates are not confirmed. A Tangedco section officer said an underground cable was punctured by ongoing Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) work, which led to a power failure in the early hours of a Thursday, when a supply outage on Kallukaran Street lasted about nine hours.
Residents in the Luz Church area also lost power near midnight on the same Thursday. The fire in the substation cable trench disrupted supply on the following Friday. The official said supply was restored for most consumers within hours from alternative sources, while residents said power returned in the Luz Church area around noon on Friday. Residents also reported difficulty registering complaints through the Minnagam call centre, the Tangedco app and the new helpline.
Contributing factors
Ongoing CMRL excavation work punctured an underground cable, according to the Tangedco official. The fire in the substation cable trench followed. Residents said complaints could not be registered through the Minnagam call centre, the Tangedco app or the new helpline, which added to the frustration during the outages. The source does not give the cause of the trench fire.
Lessons learned
- Excavation works near buried high-voltage or distribution cables should be carried out only against verified cable records, with the network owner supervising or marking the route.
- Alternative supply switching should be in place so that a cable fault in one section restores most customers within hours.
- Fault reporting channels should be tested under load so that residents can register outages during an incident, and the public should be told which channel is the single point of contact.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.
Other entries that name Chennai
- Breaker explosion and fire at Mylapore substation in Chennai injures two engineers
- Cable strike and overload fire on a Stanley substation feed disrupt power in Chennai
- Transformer explosion and fire cuts power to hundreds in Chromepet, Chennai
- Fire at Manali substation cuts power from Manali to the Mint in Chennai
- Fire breaks out at Alamathy Tangedco substation near Chennai
Published 2026-10-24. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
