Hacker News Reader

Comment by 3princip | Hacker News Reader

Speaking of anomalies, tunnels and London. On the Piccadilly line between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park it feels like the tube train takes forever while going at great speed. Yet the distance is barely half a mile.

Mind you it has been a decade since I've taken the ride, but at the time it puzzled me.

View on HN

The train slows down between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park as it passes through the now closed Down Street station.

The platforms of Down Street have been bricked up but otherwise the station is still there. You can tell you're passing through it when the train slows, and the wall changes to brick for several seconds. You can also see some kind of junction before the platforms. If you walk along Down St on the surface you can even see the old station facade still there.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5046265,-0.1477147,3a,75y,...

This guy has a very detailed map of the underground system including closed/defunct stations: http://carto.metro.free.fr/cartes/metro-tram-london/

And there are even a couple of photos within the closed bit of the Station : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5046516,-0.1479124,3a,90y,...

Apparently the track between stations is lower than the track at stations so the trains get a little acceleration and deceleration for free. Thus the trains still slow for abandoned stations.

There's a handful of stations on the tube where above ground they're but a few minutes walk even though underground the train takes much longer (and I believe I much more circuitous path). IIRC you can actually jump out at the platform and run above ground to the next station before the train arrives.

Edit: Here's a guy racing the Circle Line from Mansion House to Cannon Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH_Z8Ghuq6E

This reminds me of changing platforms at Bank. IIRC Northen to DLR is something like a 3 mile walk.

Edit: I obviously don't recall correctly! I knew it was some change that was hefty.

Circle/District to Waterloo & City is the longest walk at Bank. 10 minutes say TFL.

http://www.cityam.com/assets/uploads/content/2015/10/bank-56...

More long interchanges here: http://www.cityam.com/226215/longest-tube-interchange-10-tub...

There's a direct staircase between the Northern and DLR, takes 30 seconds. Don't leave the platform at the end, look for the staircase in the middle.

Northern and DLR are like right next to each other underground... the longest will be going from Waterloo & City or the Central line, across to the District line.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/...

Here's a map showing where it's quicker to walk: http://rodcorp.typepad.com/rodcorp/2003/10/london_tube_map.h...

I know than a lot of the lines had to follow weird quirky routes as they are built under the roads, not the houses. This was something to do with the cost of getting permission to build under other people's properties IIRC

No eminent domain law in the UK?

Eminent domain comes from English common law. The crown ultimately owns everything (i.e. holds eminent domain). Your "fee simple" property allows you to hold rights in the property in perpetuity in exchange for a simple fee (as opposed to a lease). The crown still holds eminent domain, however, and can take it away. The "constitutional" part of "constitutional monarchy" does create a process and establish compensation and such so that your rights can't be taken away arbitrarily.

Also a lot of the older lines - like the circle line - are much more shallow and were built by digging up the roads, putting in the tunnel and covering it back up (cut and cover) rather than by boring the tunnels.

In addition, quite a few of the curves on the Central Line are there to avoid digging through plague pits - apparently

I think I can shed some light on that. The borers then would deviate from a direct line if they encountered soft earth, like chalk. There’s a section on the Piccadilly line where it avoids a section, straightens up and then avoids another section soon after before finally straightening up. At the relatively slow speed, partly because of the turns, it can take a while, relatively.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com