Friday, April 17, 2020
What are the shortest and longest journeys between adjacent Underground stations?
I'm going to attempt to answer this question with the aid of an FOI request answered by TfL last month. They didn't answer it terribly helpfully, burying all the data in tables cut-and-pasted into ten separate Word documents, so it's taken me quite a while to extract the information. But I had nothing else to do yesterday, so here are my results.
I'll break it down line by line, then look at the whole network.
n.b. Data is about time, not distance.
n.b. All times are in seconds.
n.b. The data provided is "Wheel Turn Time" - the duration of the journey rather than the interval between doors opening and closing.
n.b. Journey times in the opposite direction may be different.
n.b. At the end of a line I've only considered journey times departing the terminus, not arriving (which is often a lot slower).
| Bakerloo |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Embankment–Charing Cross | 50 | 1 | Queen's Park–Kensal Green | 165 |
| 2 | Marylebone–Edgware Road | 57 | 2 | Stonebridge Park–Wembley Central | 140 |
| 2 | Baker Street–Marylebone | 57 | 3 | Willesden Junction–Kensal Green | 131 |
| 4 | Piccadilly Circus–Charing Cross | 70 | 4 | Harrow & Wealdstone–Kenton | 129 |
| 5 | Waterloo–Lambeth North | 73 | 5 | Harlesden–Stonebridge Park | 121 |
The quickest journey on the Bakerloo line is between Embankment and Charing Cross at 50 seconds. Journeys to and from Marylebone are the only others which take less than a minute. All the shortest journeys are in zone 1, whereas all the longest are up the northern end. The longest journey is the slow trundle through the sheds at Queen's Park.
| Central |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Holborn–Chancery Lane | 45 | 1 | Chigwell–Roding Valley | 183 |
| 2 | Oxford Circus–Tottenham Ct Rd | 51 | 2 | Debden–Theydon Bois | 181 |
| 2 | Marble Arch–Bond Street | 51 | 2 | Mile End–Stratford | 181 |
| 4 | Bond Street–Oxford Circus | 57 | 4 | Hanger Lane–North Acton | 171 |
| 5 | Holland Park–Notting Hill Gate | 58 | 5 | Bethnal Green–Liverpool Street | 159 |
The quickest journey on the Central line is between Holborn and Chancery Lane at 45 seconds. The whole of the Central line's journey beneath Oxford Street appears in the 'shortest' list. The longest journeys are out in the Essex countryside and on the long run between Mile End and Stratford, at three minutes apiece.
| Circle and Hammersmith & City |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Monument–Cannon Street | 50 | 1 | Barking–East Ham | 183 |
| 1 | Cannon Street–Mansion House | 50 | 2 | Farringdon–King’s Cross | 175 |
| 3 | Wood Lane–Shepherds Bush | 55 | 3 | Aldgate East–Liverpool Street | 135 |
| 4 | Latimer Road–Wood Lane | 58 | 4 | Gloucester Rd–High St Ken | 127 |
| 5 | Shepherds Bush–Goldhawk Road | 59 | 5 | Stepney Green–Whitechapel | 123 |
The quickest journeys on the Circle line are either side of Cannon Street, then either side of Wood Lane. These stations exist solely to provide access to a mainline station and to Westfield, and wouldn't be viable otherwise. The longest journey on the Hammersmith and City line is at the far eastern end. At almost three minutes, Farringdon to King's Cross is an unusually long journey for zone 1. The average journey time between stations on the Circle line is 87 seconds, the shortest on any line.
| District |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Monument–Cannon Street | 50 | 1 | Richmond–Kew Gardens | 191 |
| 1 | Cannon Street–Mansion House | 50 | 2 | Kensington Olympia–Earl's Court | 186 |
| 3 | Bow Road–Mile End | 62 | 3 | Barking–East Ham | 183 |
| 4 | Turnham Green–Stamford Brook | 63 | 4 | Earl's Court–High St Kensington | 176 |
| 5 | Mansion House–Blackfriars | 67 | 5 | Ealing Broadway–Ealing Common | 168 |
Cannon Street appears again at the top of the list of District line shortest journeys. In third place is my local station, Bow Road, which is barely a minute from Mile End. Both halves of the Kensington Olympia service appear in the longest list. Other long journeys include the first stops out of the termini at Richmond and Ealing Broadway.
| Jubilee |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Southwark–Waterloo | 42 | 1 | Wembley Park–Kingsbury | 194 |
| 2 | Finchley Road–Swiss Cottage | 55 | 2 | Baker Street–St John's Wood | 151 |
| 3 | Finchley Road–West Hampstead | 59 | 3 | Wembley Park–Neasden | 145 |
| 4 | Westminster–Waterloo | 69 | 4 | Stratford–West Ham | 137 |
| 5 | Canada Water–Bermondsey | 71 | 5 | Canary Wharf–Canada Water | 128 |
The quickest journey on the Jubilee line is between Southwark and Waterloo at just 42 seconds. Two other journeys on the Jubilee line extension appear in the shortest list, along with both journeys out of Finchley Road. Wembley Park is the big hitter in the longest list taking first and third positions. As an example of the 'end of the line' effect, West Ham to Stratford is timetabled at 23 seconds longer than Stratford to West Ham.
| Metropolitan |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Moorgate–Liverpool Street | 69 | 1 | Chesham–Chalfont & Latimer | 490 |
| 2 | Farringdon–Barbican | 70 | 2 | Wembley Park–Finchley Road | 393 |
| 2 | Great Portland St–Euston Square | 70 | 3 | Baker Street–Finchley Road | 300 |
| 2 | Ruislip Manor–Ruislip | 70 | 4 | Croxley–Rickmansworth | 270 |
| 5 | Moorgate–Barbican | 75 | 5 | Moor Park–Rickmansworth | 254 |
All the shortest journeys on the Metropolitan line are in zone 1, with the exception of Ruislip Manor to Ruislip in zone 6. The next shortest suburban journey would have been Ickenham to Hillingdon at 91 seconds. The Metropolitan line also has some really long journeys, including a massive eight minute ride along the Chesham branch. Fast running also means some very long journeys to either side of Finchley Road. In fourth place is the rarely-used North Curve between Croxley and Rickmansworth. Croxley to Moor Park is in sixth.
| Northern |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Charing Cross–Embankment | 35 | 1 | Hampstead–Golders Green | 210 |
| 2 | Tottenham Ct Rd–Leicester Sq | 44 | 2 | East Finchley–Finchley Central | 186 |
| 3 | Warren Street–Goodge Street | 46 | 3 | Euston–Camden Town | 161 |
| 4 | Charing Cross–Leicester Sq | 54 | 4 | Colindale–Hendon Central | 149 |
| 5 | Goodge Street–Tottenham Ct Rd | 56 | 5 | High Barnet–Tott & Whetstone | 144 |
The quickest journey on the Northern line is between Charing Cross and Embankment at 35 seconds (fifteen seconds faster than on the Bakerloo line). All the quickest journeys are on the Charing Cross branch, covering the entire run from Charing Cross to Warren Street. The longest journeys are on the line's northern branches, peaking with Hampstead to Golders Green at 3½ minutes (where an intermediate station was planned but never built).
| Piccadilly |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Leicester Square–Covent Garden | 39 | 1 | Hammersmith–Acton Town | 350 |
| 2 | Northfields–South Ealing | 51 | 2 | Heathrow T4–Heathrow T23 | 289 |
| 3 | Leicester Square–Piccadilly Circus | 60 | 3 | Hounslow West–Hatton Cross | 226 |
| 4 | Green Park–Piccadilly Circus | 61 | 4 | Hatton Cross–Heathrow T23 | 202 |
| 5 | Hyde Pk Corner–Knightsbridge | 62 | 5 | South Ealing–Acton Town | 200 |
It'll surprise nobody that Leicester Square to Covent Garden is the quickest journey on the Piccadilly line. More surprising is that Northfields to South Ealing is only 51 seconds, a very short journey for the suburbs. The other quickest journeys are through the West End where stops are frequent. The longest journey is the fast run between Hammersmith and Acton Town which skips several District line stations. The Heathrow extension appears three times, with the longest journey (out of Terminal 4) taking almost five minutes.
| Victoria |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Euston–King's Cross | 54 | 1 | Finsbury Park–Seven Sisters | 176 |
| 2 | Warren Street–Oxford Circus | 61 | 2 | Highbury & Islington–King's Cross | 143 |
| 3 | Warren Street–Euston | 62 | 3 | Highbury & Islington–Finsbury Pk | 118 |
| 4 | Pimlico–Vauxhall | 65 | 4 | Vauxhall–Stockwell | 109 |
| 5 | Seven Sisters–Tottenham Hale | 77 | 5 | Walthamstow Ctrl–Blackhorse Rd | 102 |
The three quickest journeys on the Victoria line are all in the central section between Oxford Circus and King's Cross. The Victoria line is a fast line, so some of these quick journeys cover a considerable distance. The three longest journeys are the other side of King's Cross on the run out to Finsbury Park. This is a well-spaced line... only two pairs of adjacent stations are more than two minutes apart.
| Waterloo & City |
| Bank platform 7 to Waterloo | 215 |
| Bank platform 8 to Waterloo | 236 |
| Waterloo to Bank platform 8 | 240 |
| Waterloo to Bank platform 7 | 255 |
The Waterloo and City line only has two stations so a shortest/longest table would be null and void. But I've included this list to demonstrate the variation that exists once you start taking into account different directions and different platforms. Bank to Waterloo turns out to be approximately half a minute quicker than Waterloo to Bank, a consequence of one station having the depot and the other having two sets of buffers. Meanwhile departing from Bank platform 7 is 20 seconds faster than departing from platform 8, but arriving on platform 8 is 15 seconds faster than arriving on platform 7. Take all the other figures in the FOI with a reasonable degree of scepticism.
Finally, here are the shortest and longest tube journeys across the whole Underground network.
| London Underground |
| Shortest | Longest |
| 1 | Charing Cross-Embankment | 35s | 1 | Chesham–Chalfont & Latimer | 8m 10s |
| 2 | Leicester Sq–Covent Garden | 39s | 2 | Wembley Park–Finchley Road | 6m 33s |
| 3 | Southwark–Waterloo | 42s | 3 | Hammersmith–Acton Town | 5m 50s |
| 4 | Tottenham Ct Rd–Leicester Sq | 44s | 4 | Finchley Road–Baker Street | 5m 00s |
| 5 | Holborn–Chancery Lane | 45s | 5 | Heathrow T4–Heathrow T23 | 4m 49s |
| 6 | Warren Street–Goodge Street | 46s | 6 | Croxley–Rickmansworth | 4m 30s |
| 7 | Monument–Cannon Street | 50s | 7 | Waterloo–Bank | 4m 15s |
| 7 | Cannon Street–Mansion House | 50s | 8 | Moor Park–Rickmansworth | 4m 14s |
| 7 | Embankment–Charing Cross | 50s | 9 | Hounslow West–Hatton Cross | 3m 46s |
| 10 | Marble Arch–Bond Street | 51s | 10 | Croxley–Moor Park | 3m 34s |
Charing Cross to Embankment on the Northern line takes the crown for the quickest journey, with Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line in second place. If we'd measured distance rather than time, these two would have been the other way round. The entire top ten is in zone 1, mostly in the heart of the West End. At least six different lines get a look in.
As for the list of slowest journeys, this is composed almost entirely of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines, with the Waterloo & City line as the sole intruder. Chesham to Chalfont takes by far the longest time, followed by three examples of trains on one line skipping past stations on another. Four of the ten longest journeys are outside London and two are around Heathrow.
One final fact... the longest journey (Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer) is exactly fourteen times longer than the shortest (Charing Cross to Embankment). There's nothing ordinary about the London Underground.
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