Going underground may put you a few feet and 10°C closer to hell, but there is a consolation to be found with that rarest and most treasured subterranean force: air conditioning on the Tube. In the midst of the current heatwave, we turn to Twitter user and London transport guru Geoff Marshall, who produced this handy Tube map of all the air-conditioned lines last summer.
Though it may be a map of air-conditioned lines in 2022, we’ve not had any news about the arrival of AC on any other lines, so it’s logical to assume this map remains trusty and valid in the year 2023 AD. And here you go.
Which tube lines have air conditioning?
You can find the full map here.
Whilst it’s set to be hellishly warm above the ground, air conditioning might just be your saviour beneath. As Geoff’s map reveals, your best bet for keeping cool is to hop on the network’s Sub-Surface Lines (SSL) – the District, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. The only four Tube lines with air conditioning, they’ll keep you cool from Uxbridge to Upminster (although if you’re doing that commute every day, you’ve probably suffered enough already).
The Elizabeth Line and London Overground trains are fully air-conditioned, as are the Trams, the ‘Central Core’ section of Thameslink and the Northern City Line (stretching the definition of a Tube map here, but we’ll roll with it).
Conspicuous by their absence are the deep-tube lines, where the trains are smaller, older, and thus lack air conditioning. Step forward the Central, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Jubilee, Bakerloo, and Waterloo and City lines, whose absence blows a giant void in air conditioning in Zone 1. As anyone who’s ever spent a summer’s day on these lines can tell you, they’re sweltering, but relief is on the way.
The Piccadilly line’s fancy new trains will bring air conditioning by 2024, with the Bakerloo, Central, and Waterloo & City line to follow – although the Central Line isn’t slated to get sweet, chilly relief until 2030. With no current plans to upgrade the other three, you’ll want to avoid the Jubilee, Victoria or Northern lines. When in doubt, consult the map!
Also published on Medium.