The fire started on a work carriage involved in track maintenance near the T-centralen metro stop, which is connected to Stockholm’s central train station.

Thick smoke then spread throughout much of the subway system, forcing the station to be evacuated and stopping much of the city’s subway traffic for several hours.

No one was injured in the incident, but crowds of frustrated passengers gathered outside of many stations.

According to police, many would-be travelers were irritated by the delay, but no fights broke out among the masses forced to wait while fire crews worked to put out the blaze.

The fire was finally extinguished shortly after 1pm and an hour later subway traffic was up and running again.

“To start with, trains won’t be stopping at T-centralen and Fridhemsplan where the smoke was the worst. But for the most part traffic is moving again,” Lena Eriksson, spokesperson for subway operator Veolia, told the TT news agency around 2pm.