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Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Climate
- Telegraph
Are London commuters treated worse than cattle in hot weather? I took the Tube to find out
Whether you're commuting to work or simply travelling around London, on even a relatively mild summer's day it's practically a guarantee that you'll arrive at your destination drenched in sweat. The hottest temperature ever recorded on London's Tube is a matter of some debate. During the 2006 heatwave, unsubstantiated reports of 47C made headlines. During the 2022 heatwave, Transport for London (TfL) advised customers to only travel if absolutely necessary, and reporters recorded temperatures over 40C on the Tube. According to TfL's own stats, the highest temperature recorded in 2024 was a comparatively cool 31.1C on the Victoria line in August. Yet, for context, regulations prohibit the moving of farm animals if temperatures exceed 30C. Truly, today's commuters are treated worse than cattle. But just how bad can it get? With the mercury already at 26C outside, and armed with a Tommee Tippee baby room thermometer, I jumped on the Tube just after the morning rush hour in central London to find out. Which is the hottest Tube line? Starting at Tottenham Court Road at 9.30am, I hopped straight on the Central line to Oxford Circus. It is infamous amongst Londoners for being the stickiest of all the Underground's lines, and according to TfL's data in 2024 it was in fact only the second hottest (behind the Victoria line), with stations reaching a peak of 30.6C. On the train, my thermometer beat this comfortably. Central line: 31.7C From Oxford Circus, I raced up to Warren Street on the TfL's 'official' hottest route: the Victoria line. It's worth emphasising that TfL only records temperatures at stations, rather than the trains themselves, with highs of 31.1C recorded. My on-train reading was much warmer. Victoria line: 33.6C The Northern line is considered one of the Underground's 'Deep' lines (Hampstead lies 58.5m below ground level) so consequently ventilation isn't always great. My journey avoided plumbing those depths while spiriting me from Warren Street back to Tottenham Court Road, but it was still hot, hot, hot. Northern line: 32.4C From the baking to the merely simmering, the journey from Tottenham Court Road to Bond Street via London's newest stretch of underground railway, the Elizabeth line, really shows the difference that air conditioning can make. Elizabeth line: 25.8C By the time I boarded the Jubilee line from Bond Street to Westminster I was starting to get used to the heat. Jubilee line trains are some of the smallest physically so there is very little room for ventilation or air conditioning units to be installed. Jubilee line: 31.3C The modern 'walk-through' District and Circle lines, like the Elizabeth line, are blessed with air conditioning. However, as they are only partially overground, they suffer from 'solar gain' where the trains and tracks heat up due to the sun when it's hot outside. On my journey from Westminster to Embankment, I could still feel the heat. District line: 30.4C Bakerloo line trains date back to 1972 and are therefore the oldest rolling stock still in active service on any railway line in Britain. I feared temperatures would be excessive, especially when I saw the swathe of newspapers placed over the ventilation within my carriage, but it turned out the Bakerloo was relatively cool. Bakerloo line: 30.9C With new air-conditioned trains coming into service on the Piccadilly line from the end of 2025, it should rapidly cool down in the coming years. Just as well, as my journey from Piccadilly Circus to Green Park saw me recording the hottest temperatures on my Tube odyssey. Piccadilly line: 34.2C The average temperature of my morning's travel was 31.3C, which, given that I was travelling before midday, is alarmingly hot. It's certainly warm enough for TfL to activate its hot weather plan: warnings that passengers should carry a bottle of water at all times could be heard frequently on my journey. Why does the Tube get so hot? A report by Rail Engineering in 2007 found that the vast majority of the heat is caused by the friction of the trains braking on the tracks. During the 2022 heatwave, trains were ordered to run more slowly to mitigate the release of braking heat. Once the underground gets hot, it stays hot. The clay into which the underground tunnels were dug acts as a heat sink, absorbing around 80 per cent of the heat generated. Scientists have estimated that when the tunnels were first dug, that clay would have been about 14C, and it is now 19-26C. Ventilation systems on the older and deeper lines such as the Piccadilly and Bakerloo were not designed to cope with the levels of heat produced by modern trains, so only around 10 per cent of heat is vented out of the network. The size of the tunnels on the London Underground are the second smallest of any underground railways in the world (only the Glasgow Subway has smaller tunnels) making it difficult and expensive to fit extra ventilation and air conditioning systems into them. What is TfL doing to cool down the Tube? There are a variety of schemes underway to help reduce temperatures underground, from air cooling units to massive chillers at some stations. Groundwater beneath Victoria station has been used for cooling; Green Park features an underground aquifer which helps cool it. Ventilation capacity and new fans are also being installed. Some Tube trains – including the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Elizabeth line – now feature air-conditioning within their carriages. The Piccadilly line will join this list when its new trains enter service from the end of 2025. The Bakerloo, Waterloo and City, and Central lines will be next in line, though no firm timeline has been announced. A TfL spokesperson told The Telegraph that despite 2019 reports of new air-conditioned trains being unveiled by 2030, funding was never secured and it was unlikely the trains would be air conditioned within the next 20 years, with Bakerloo line trains being given priority before then. Despite the Victoria line being the hottest on the underground last year (with temperatures averaging 30C between June and October) there are no plans to upgrade trains on the Victoria, Northern or Jubilee lines. How to stay safe when travelling in hot weather Always carry water to avoid dehydration. During hot weather, you can lose 1.5 to 2 litres of water an hour through sweat. 'If you don't replace these fluids, your blood thickens and your heart has to work harder to maintain your blood pressure and oxygen levels,' warns Dileep Lobo, a professor of gastrointestinal surgery at University of Nottingham, who researches fluid and electrolyte balance. According to nutritional therapist Madeleine Shaw, it could also be worth adding an electrolyte sachet to your water before you travel: 'This is a great way to start the day and really important on hot sweaty days,' she says. TfL regularly advices passengers to get off the train if they feel dizzy or unwell, as it is easier for paramedics to reach people on platforms than on the trains themselves. Carl Eddleston, TfL's Director of Streets & Network Operations, said: 'With continuous hot weather forecast over the coming days, we are encouraging customers to carry water with them when they travel. 'We have a comprehensive hot weather plan in place to protect the network's infrastructure with resources on standby to help respond to the impact and to keep services running. 'Please look out for each other while travelling. For the latest information on how TfL services are operating, customers should use TfL's real-time travel tools, including status updates, Journey Planner and TfL Go.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
London Underground: Thousands of pieces of graffiti removed daily
Transport for London (TfL) says it is removing about 4,000 pieces of graffiti per day on the Central and Bakerloo Tube says it is dealing with a huge increase in vandalism on the trains as well as challenges in getting the trains says it has a reduced number of trains on the Central line as some are being upgraded, five at a time. The Bakerloo line has the oldest fleet, and hence it has fewer transport body says it is for this reason that it has to put trains back into service with graffiti, otherwise the service would not be able to continue to the same timetable. At the Hainault Depot, the team says it is "working around the clock", having removed 23,000 pieces of graffiti in the past two Dan Pincott said: "To remove it we're using buffers because it's leather dye, not paint."It will not come off with normal graffiti remover, so it needs special tools."It's long hot hard hours for them to remove it." Alcohol-based leather dye is the toughest to get off as it soaks into the fibre, as opposed to paint which sits on the surface. The process can take days, TfL says. Director of asset performance delivery, Richard Jones, said: "Typically we had the spares previously where if the train was damaged inside or outside, it would not go into service. "But in order to maintain the service, some of the damaged trains are having to go into public use." Mr Jones added: "It makes the Underground feel less safe and it can be a magnet for other criminal activity so it's important to remove and we take it seriously."Customers do complain a lot."TfL says it is planning to introduce more cleaning teams as well as working with the police to target vandals.
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How the London Underground turned into a hellhole: It's used as an open toilet, filled with fare-dodgers and pickpockets and sex attacks are surging. FRED KELLY'S investigation reveals shocking truth
It's just gone midday in Stratford, east London, and a young man – no more than 25 years old and wearing expensive wireless earphones and designer sunglasses – slips through the London Underground ticket barriers without paying and waltzes down the underpass towards the Central line platform. Little does he know, the Daily Mail is in hot pursuit.
Zawya
30-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Reopening of Central Line Will Ease Traffic Congestion on Cape Town Freeways
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Mr Donald Selamolela, has noted with appreciation the successful reopening of the Central Line connecting Khayelitsha to the CBD. Mr Selamolela attended the function that was overseen by the Minister of Transport, Ms Barbara Creecy, Deputy Minister Mr Mkhuleko Hlengwa, and the City of Cape Town Mayor, Mr Geordin Hill-Lewis. Mr Selamolela said: 'This is a significant infrastructural rail project that must benefit our people to and from work. We particularly appreciate the investment government has put into this project. We are changing the lives of people of Cape Town for the better.' The Central Line which used to commute 2 million passengers daily, had fallen victim to vandalism which saw the rail tracks being stolen and the stations being vandalised. This Mr Selamolela called on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) not to lose momentum and increase the volume of carriages on the rails while significantly improve signalling equipment as that will ease pressure on Cape Town freeways. 'The reopening must not end with the photo opportunity of officials, but a real change in people's lives through the provision of affordable, safe and reliable public transport. PRASA must act with speed and regain the trust people used to place on trains. We want them to be a transport mode of choice.' Mr Selamolela urged the community and community leaders to play a role in protecting and guarding the rolling stock and the network as the assets are theirs. 'The greatest security is in the hands of the people. They must safeguard the Central Line against cable theft and burning of trains.' 'Our country requires this service as of yesterday. So many of our people are unemployed and will benefit greatly from this PRASA initiative.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
Telegraph
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Let Ed Sheeran's humiliation be a lesson to buskers everywhere
For a couple of years in the early Noughties, my working life was rendered hellish by a bagpiping busker. His favoured pitch was outside Dickens and Jones on Regent Street, while my office was diagonally across the street. There are few things as moving as the haunting sound of lone pipes at a Scottish wedding, or funeral, or on Burns Night. And no caterwaul is more unwelcome when you're trying to concentrate on the day's tasks. My then boss – a scion of Clan Maclean – once threatened to have the miscreant served up as Haggis. But by far the most annoying buskers are those who believe they're Adele or Ed Sheeran. So, I have great sympathy for the Indian police who moved on an Ed Sheeran impersonator in Bengaluru this week, only to discover he was actually… Ed Sheeran. You can see how that happened. There is something unmistakably busker-esque about Sheeran. He's exactly the kind of guitar-mad, nice guy who stands down the tube belting out bland ballads, on repeat, until your brain melts and you throw yourself under a Central Line train. The worst part of it is that, even as you hate the music, you can't ignore the busker's puppy-dog eyes, pleading for cash, adulation and an audition spot on the X Factor. Back in the days when I had small change, I was forever dishing it out to forlorn young men because they made me think of every self-indulgent musician I dated in my teens. One of my old boyfriends, circa 1987, had a new romantic band called President Reagan is Clever and wore floor-length duster-coats and guyliner, meaning he was constantly jeered at by skinheads and old rockers, so needed your sympathy and small change. Now the whole busking transaction is rendered complicated by the fact that canny operators whip out card machines when you say you have no cash. The old tribute of 20p – or a whopping pound coin for being aurally harassed – looks dead mean when you flex your plastic. One friend felt so flustered in the heat of the moment she ended up giving an appalling saxophonist a fiver. (By the way, this is even more true at the end of CoE services when a steely-eyed female churchwarden waves her card machine at you on behalf of the organist.) When you look at Westminster Council's busking rules, you appreciate that they're actually doing their level best to protect us from the most egregious performers. Their 'code of conduct' includes the stipulations of 'a full and varied repertoire that avoids repeating sounds, songs, or music', a useful prohibition against knives and fireworks, and that no performance should be longer than 40 minutes (hear that, Mr Bagpiper!). You'll also be glad to know all councils have robust complaints procedures. I spent a diverting half hour looking at an online log of Westminster objections made 2019-20 (floating around on the interweb) and was entertained to note the House of Commons was being aggressively trolled by a rogue bagpiper, while January had seen 'extremely loud heavy metal at the Agatha Christie statue'. All in all, it seems in urban areas you're only ever ten steps away from a street performer gone rogue. At least you expect this kind of behaviour from un-signed, impecunious musicians. But it's all a bit much when megastars like Sheeran start foisting their hits upon us, unsolicited. What next? Chris Martin mawkishly crooning 'Let Somebody Go' at King's Cross, while downtrodden commuters furiously think, 'Haven't National Rail found enough ways to torture us this week?' Pushed between a rock star and a cacophonous place, I'd maybe settle for the bagpipes.
