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Old February 1st 07, 06:59 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Orienteer Orienteer is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 9
Default Why is the Victoria line so hot these days?


"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jan 31, 9:39 am, "Boltar" wrote:
On Jan 30, 10:30 pm, Stuart wrote:

Boltar wrote:
I've noticed the victoria line seems to be much warmer than the other
lines these days (or maybe it always has been but I've not noticed).
Is this because the trains are more frequent , or they use up more
energy on ATO , or the tunnel ventilation isn't so good , or is there
some other reason?


Always has been hotter (well as long as i've been travelling on it).


I've asked this before on here, the answer i got was that it's to do
with the fact that the Vic line is completely underground and so the
trains don't have any fresh air to cool off in except when they go to
the depot.


I'm not convinced its because its completely underground. After all
the northern line is underground all the way from mordon to east
finchley and golders green. Quite long enough for the tunnels to build
up huge amounts of heat but its not as hot as the victoria line ,
which does have the surface exit to the depot near seven sisters
anyway.

B2003


Yes, but I think that the longest that a Northern line train will be
below ground is less than 1 hour (from Morden to East Finchley via
Bank is 56-57 mins according to the journey planner) and trains can
have a slightly longer turn around time at Morden as there are three
platforms in the open.
On the Victoria line though, end to end time is 35 mins and the turn
around time is taken underground.

I think the important difference is the addition of cold air into the
hot trains, which only happens on the Victoria line when they goto the
depot at Northumberland Park and even then this assumes that the
trains open their doors whilst the driver changes ends. On the
Northern line, trains will stand for a few mins with their doors open
at each terminal.

It is not that the tunnels that are particularly warmer; I commute
through Stockwell and I don't think the Victoria line platforms are
generally any warmer than the Northern lines ones at the stations I
use, but the trains on the Victoria are definately warmer. On the
other hand, I think that the coolest stations (when it is hot outside)
are those on the Jubilee line extension, where there is much more
space for the heat generated by passengers to dissapate.

I don't know whther the ages of the trains on the Victoria has
anything to do with the temperature, but I would hope that the new
trains on the Victoria will be better designed for their underground
lifestyle.


The Central, Northern and Jubilee lines use stock with more modern control
and braking systems, which do not generate so much heat. When the Vic stock
is replaced in 2009, it should run cooler.

The Bakerloo is also notably hot, and the Picc is at times.