Tube geek (10)Quick change
A small black circle on the tube map indicates an interchange between lines. Some of these interchanges involve easy cross-platform walks, while others involve at five minute hike through a labyrinth of tunnels. I've tried to come up with a list of the ten most useful and ten lengthiest line interchanges on the Underground. Feel free to help me out in the comments box if you know of anywhere more appropriate to include. (n.b. only interchanges marked by a circle on the tube map are included)
10 11 best tube interchanges
• Mile End: cross-platform saunter between District and Central lines.
• Finchley Road and Wembley Park: doddle of a platform-hop between Metropolitan and Jubilee lines.
• Baker Street: mini-tunnel between Bakerloo and Jubilee lines.
• Finsbury Park: tiny walk between Piccadilly and Victoria lines.
• Stockwell: short crossing between Victoria and Northern lines.
• Ealing Common, Acton Town, Hammersmith and Baron's Court: same-level interchange between Piccadilly and District lines.
• Oxford Circus: brief tunnel dash between Bakerloo and Victoria lines.
10 worst tube interchanges
• Bank/Monument: They used to show this on the tube map as a wiggly line marked 'escalator link', which was at least honest. Now they've shifted the circles closer together, disguising the lengthy assault course facing passengers who choose to change here. Never try to swap between the Central and Circle lines here unless you have a strong heart and ten minutes to spare. (Dave recommends going via the Northern line instead)
• Green Park: Possibly the longest foot tunnel in the world is hidden between the Piccadilly and Victoria/Jubilee platforms. It's probably quicker to ascend to the ticket hall and come back down via the main escalator instead.
• Waterloo: When they added the Jubilee line station here they forgot to position it anywhere near the Northern line platforms. It's so far from one to the other that they've installed a travelator, like what you always find at airports.
• Paddington: There used to be two different Paddington tube stations, one (Bishop's Road) on what is now the Hammersmith & City line and the other (Praed Street) on the Circle, District and Bakerloo. The two stations were given the same name in 1947, just to trick people into believing they weren't miles apart.
• Hammersmith: On the tube map it looks as if you can change easily here between the District and Hammersmith & City lines. Not so. What the map doesn't show is that the two stations are on opposite sides of Hammersmith Broadway and you have to walk through a shopping mall and across two pedestrian crossings to get from one to the other.
• Charing Cross: The Bakerloo and Northern line stations here used to be completely separate until 1979 when the Jubilee line arrived slap bang inbetween. In 1999 they closed down the Jubilee line station again, but they kept open the scarily long passageway between the remaining two lines.
• Canary Wharf: The nearest DLR station to Canary Wharf Jubilee line station isn't Canary Wharf but Heron Quays. One's a five minute walk from the Jubilee platform and the other's four, which is pretty poor for such an important transport hub. At least the view's nice on the trek inbetween.
• Camden Town: No problem going north on the Northern line, because there's a High Barnet platform and an Edgware platform. Try going south, however, and your train could depart from either of the two platforms so you end up hovering at the foot of the two escalators watching the platform indicators, waiting to dash one way or the other as appropriate.
• Euston: Euston is a breeze between the Victoria and the Bank branch of the Northern (so long as you want north to north or south to south), but a pain between either of those and the C+ branch. (Thanks Chz)
• Kings Cross St Pancras (while rebuilding work continues): If you want to change from the Northern/Piccadilly/Victoria lines to the Circle/Hammersmith & City/Metropolitan lines at certain times of the day they block off the short cut that would lead you directly to the top of the stairs down into the C/H/M lines area and make you walk the long way round. (Thanks pixeldiva)
Tube geek (10) Quick change
