Power supplies in Moscow were suddenly cut off Wednesday due to an explosion at an electricity substation, Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said.

However, the minister did not say what caused the blast. The power failures effected traffic on several lines of the Moscow metro, the subway's chief Dmitry Gayev was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

The underground train service system was halted and suburban commuter trains on several routes in and out of the city were also affected.

Trains are currently not moving on Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya line from Bitsevsky Park to Kitai-Gorod stations and on Zamoskvoretskaya line from Kraznogvardeiskaya to Paveletskaya stations, the news agency reported.

Power goes off in Moscow, 4 regions

People are being evacuated from the subway and the stations have been closed, Gayev said. The public has been asked to use other public transportation vehicles.

Russian mobile phone operators said they were working on reserve power and would have to switch off the network if electricity was not restored soon.

Moscow's main stock exchange was also suspended.

The Emergency Situations Ministry is taking rapid steps to ensure electricity supplies for hospitals, kindergartens and schools, the Interfax said.

Source: Xinhua