The "All Lines Challenge"

This is how I worked out possible routes. I'm concentrating on going one stop per line. I'm assuming that there is no perverse reason why going two stops at any time is faster.

The limiting factor is the Waterloo & City line with it's two stations, so Waterloo and Bank must be on your itinerary.

From Bank, you must go north or you won't be able to tick off the Metropolitan line at all. Your one-stop options are Central line to Liverpool Street and Northern line to Moorgate. Then the obvious thing is to head west/anti-clockwise for three consecutive stations to tick off the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, either Liverpool Street to Farringdon or Moorgate to King's Cross St. Pancras.

From Waterloo, you must go north or you won't be able to tick off the District line at all. Indeed your second leg from Waterloo must be the District line.

Assuming you take the Northern line option from Bank, from Waterloo you have the Bakerloo, Central, District, Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines to tick off.

If you take the Jubilee from Waterloo to Westminster, that must be followed by the District to Embankment, then the Bakerloo to Charing Cross, and you're stuck with the Central, Piccadilly and Victoria left.

If you take the Bakerloo from Waterloo to Embankment, that must be followed by the District to Westminster and the Jubilee to Green Park, leaving the Central, Piccadilly and Victoria to tick off. Taking the Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus would leave you stuck. Taking the Victoria to Oxford Circus, then the Central would leave you with the Piccadilly left, but that can be added on to King's Cross St. Pancras at the other end. So...

Route #1 = Russell Square or Caledonian Road (Piccadilly) King's Cross St. Pancras (Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan) Moorgate (Northern) Bank (Waterloo & City) Waterloo (Bakerloo) Embankment (District) Westminster (Jubilee) Green Park (Victoria) Oxford Circus (Central) Bond Street or Tottenham Court Road

Assuming you take the Central line option from Bank, from Waterloo you have the Bakerloo, District, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines to tick off.

If you take the Bakerloo from Waterloo to Embankment, that must be followed by the District to Westminster and the Jubilee to Green Park, leaving the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria to tick off. Taking the Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus would leave you stuck with the Northern and Victoria left. Taking the Victoria to Oxford Circus would leave you stuck with the Northern and Piccadilly left.

If you take the Jubilee from Waterloo to Westminster, that must be followed by the District to Embankment, leaving the Bakerloo, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria to tick off. Taking the Bakerloo to Charing Cross, Northern to Leicester Square and Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus would leave you stuck with the Victoria left. Taking the Northern to Charing Cross, Bakerloo to Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly to Green Park and Victoria...

Route #2 = Farringdon (Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan) Liverpool Street (Central) Bank (Waterloo & City) Waterloo (Jubilee) Westminster (District) Embankment (Northern) Charing Cross (Bakerloo) Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly) Green Park (Victoria) Oxford Circus or Victoria

If you take the Northern to Embankment, that must be followed by the District to Westminster and the Jubilee to Green Park, leaving the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Victoria to tick off. This give you two more routes...

Route #3 = Farringdon (Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan) Liverpool Street (Central) Bank (Waterloo & City) Waterloo (Northern) Embankment (District) Westminster (Jubilee) Green Park (Piccadilly) Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo) Oxford Circus (Victoria) Warren Street or Green Park

Route #4 = Farringdon (Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan) Liverpool Street (Central) Bank (Waterloo & City) Waterloo (Northern) Embankment (District) Westminster (Jubilee) Green Park (Victoria) Oxford Circus (Bakerloo) Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly) Green Park or Leicester Square

So now the question is, "Which route is fastest?"

Let's start by looking at the timetable for the Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan combination. I'm looking at the eastbound/clockwise timetables, because starting at that end means you can wait for trains of the three separate lines arriving in order. If you leave this part to the end, you could arrive at Liverpool Street or Moorgate and find the three lines are out of sequence.

Looking at the timetables leaving Farringdon on a weekday: Circle line trains are every 10 minutes at #9 minutes past the hour; Hammersmith & City line trains are every 10 minutes at #5 minutes past the hour; Metropolitan line trains are every 5 minutes at #2 and #7 minutes past the hour. The pattern is #2 Metropolitan, #5 Hammersmith & City, #7 Metropolitan; #9 Circle, so if you can be at Farringdon at #5 or #9 minutes past the hour, the next three trains should be different. From King's Cross St. Pancras the pattern is #1 Hammersmith & City, #3 Metropolitan, #6 Circle, #8 Metropolitan.

For each route I looked up the timetabled running time to catch the first Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan sequence after 12 noon on a weekday...

1. Route 2 (26 minutes)
2. Route 4 (30 minutes)
3. Route 3 (30 minutes)
4. Route 1 (32 minutes)

The times in the timetables are departure times, and I allowed zero minute interchanges which would mean your next train is due to leave at the same time as the train you just got off, giving you just the time that the train is stationary to change platforms. The 26 minute time for route 2 has six zero minute interchanges including four in a row! So, I also looked up the times allowing at least one minute for interchanges...

1. Route 4 (42 minutes)
2. Route 3 (42 minutes)
3. Route 2 (43 minutes)
4. Route 1 (46 minutes)

All of which would mean you have no chance of breaking the record! So you need to be very lucky or very fast with your changes. If I average the zero and one minute interchange times...

1. Route 2 (34 1/2 minutes)
2. Route 3 (36 minutes)
3. Route 4 (36 minutes)
4. Route 1 (39 minutes)

Personally I would first eliminate Route 1 as it is the slowest in each list and for the inconvenience of not starting at Farringdon. With Route 1 you can head to King's Cross St. Pancras planning and hoping for the right Circle / Hammersmith & City / Metropolitan sequence, but with no certainty. With the other routes you can wait at Farringdon for the right sequence, and change routes along the way if necessary.

Next I would eliminate Route 2 as it is the only one to involve changing at Charing Cross. Because it was once two separate stations, it is a long way between the two sets of platforms. And the fastest time would require a zero minute interchange there.

For the last two, changing at Green Park is the deciding factor. Route 4 involves changing from the Jubilee to the Victoria line which is the most bearable of the three combinations of change there.

Future adventures

I have an excuse to go to London during the weekend of Saturday 6th / Sunday 7th February (my NFL team, the Denver Broncos, will be playing in Super Bowl 50, and I'll be watching it at the Hard Rock Cafe), so I'll probably be starting my Labyrinth challenge and trying to set a time for one (or more) of the smaller tube-travelling achievements.

Amongst them is the "Mouse Challenge". This is to visit all 33 London Underground stations that are on or between the two Central London branches of the Northern line between Camden Town and Kennington. Turn the tube map 90 degrees anti-clockwise and it looks a little like a mouse with its nose at Kennington and its tail at Camden Town. The 33 stations are: Angel, Bank, Barbican, Blackfriars, Borough, Camden Town, Cannon Street, Chancery Lane, Charing Cross, Covent Garden, Elephant & Castle, Embankment, Euston, Euston Square, Farringdon, Goodge Street, Holborn, Kennington, King's Cross St. Pancras, Lambeth North, Leicester Square, London Bridge, Mansion House, Moorgate, Mornington Crescent, Old Street, Russell Square, Southwark, St. Paul's, Temple, Tottenham Court Road, Warren Street & Waterloo. The current record is 1 hour, 26 minutes, 48 seconds. It should be a good test of my route-planning algorithm which tries to minimise the number of stations that you have to visit more than once. However, it does nothing to minimise the number of interchanges, so I want to see how efficient it is. In theory, my route is fast enough to break the record.

Another is the "All Lines Challenge". For this you must travel between at least two stations on all eleven London Underground lines. Where two or more lines share the same stretch of track you must travel on the trains of all the lines involved. For example, a trip between Euston Square and King's Cross St. Pancras only counts for the line your train is described as, it doesn't mean you have done the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan together. I'm interested in this one because the top time is so much better than the others. The top five times are (in minutes:seconds) 33:37, 37:14, 38:41, 39:46, 40:25. The top time is 20% faster than the fifth best and the difference between #1 and #2 is more than the difference between #2 and #5. I can't come up with a route that would break that record even in theory. I wonder if I've missed a crafty trick, so I'm going to give it a try. I may lay out my logic in a future post.

Links:
Tube Challenge forum
Tube Challenge League Tables

The Labyrinth route

This is the record-breaking 2009 route, which is used to number the Labyrinth artworks on the London Underground. For each leg, it lists the new stations but not stations that would have been visited already.

There are 3 cases where two stations with the same name are treated separately

• Edgware Road: The Bakerloo station is separate from the Hammersmith & City / Circle / District station
• Paddington: Although linked on the Tube map, and both linked to the main-line station, the Hammersmith & City / Circle [between Royal Oak and Edgware Road] station is separate from the Bakerloo / District / Circle [between Bayswater and Edgware Road] station
• Hammersmith: The District / Piccadilly station is separate from the Hammersmith & City / Circle station

OON = Out Of Network

During record attempts, you can transfer between stations on foot or by using other forms of public transport such as buses or other railway services, but not private transport such as private cars, taxis or bicycles.

Metropolitan: Chesham - Chalfont & Latimer: Chesham (1); Chalfont & Latimer (2)

Metropolitan: Chalfont & Latimer - Amersham: Amersham (3)

Metropolitan: Amersham - Moor Park: Chorleywood (4); Rickmansworth (5); Moor Park (6)

Metropolitan: Moor Park - Watford: Croxley (7); Watford (8)

Metropolitan: Watford - North Harrow: Northwood (9); Northwood Hills (10); Pinner (11); North Harrow (12)

OON: North Harrow - Rayners Lane: Rayners Lane (13)

Piccadilly: Rayners Lane - Ealing Common: South Harrow (14); Sudbury Hill (15); Sudbury Town (16); Alperton (17); Park Royal (18); North Ealing (19); Ealing Common (20)

District: Ealing Common - Ealing Broadway: Ealing Broadway (21)

Central: Ealing Broadway - East Acton: West Acton (22); North Acton (23); East Acton (24)

Central: East Acton - West Ruislip: Hanger Lane (25); Perivale (26); Greenford (27); Northolt (28); South Ruislip (29); Ruislip Gardens (30); West Ruislip (31)

OON West Ruislip - Ickenham: Ickenham (32)

Metropolitan: Ickenham - Uxbridge: Hillingdon (33); Uxbridge (34)

Metropolitan: Uxbridge - Preston Road: Ruislip (35); Ruislip Manor (36); Eastcote (37); West Harrow (38); Harrow-on-the Hill (39); Northwick Park (40); Preston Road (41)

Metropolitan: Preston Road - Northwick Park

OON: Northwick Park - Kenton: Kenton (42)

Bakerloo: Kenton - Harrow & Wealdstone: Harrow & Wealdstone (43)

Bakerloo: Harrow & Wealdstone - Elephant & Castle: South Kenton (44); North Wembley (45); Wembley Central (46); Stonebridge Park (47); Harlesden (48); Willesden Junction (49); Kensal Green (50); Queen's Park (51); Kilburn Park (52); Maida Vale (53); Warwick Avenue (54); Paddington (Bakerloo) (55); Edgware Road (Bakerloo) (56); Marylebone (57); Baker Street (58); Regent's Park (59); Oxford Circus (60); Piccadilly Circus (61); Charing Cross (62); Embankment (63); Waterloo (64); Lambeth North (65); Elephant & Castle (66)

Northern: Elephant & Castle - London Bridge: Borough (67); London Bridge (68)

Jubilee: London Bridge - Southwark: Southwark (69);

Jubilee: Southwark - West Ham: Bermondsey (70); Canada Water (71); Canary Wharf (72); North Greenwich (73); Canning Town (74); West Ham (75)

OON (actually National Rail): West Ham - Upminster: Upminster (76)

District: Upminster - Aldgate East: Upminster Bridge (77); Hornchurch (78); Elm Park (79); Dagenham East (80); Dagenham Heathway (81); Becontree (82); Upney (83); Barking (84); East Ham (85); Upton Park (86); Plaistow (87); Bromley-by-Bow (88); Bow Road (89); Mile End (90); Stepney Green (91); Whitechapel (92); Aldgate East (93)

OON: Aldgate East - Aldgate: Aldgate (94)

Circle: Aldgate - Sloane Square: Tower Hill (95); Monument (96); Cannon Street (97); Mansion House (98); Blackfriars (99); Temple (100); Westminster (101); St. James's Park (102); Victoria (103); Sloane Square (104)

Circle: Sloane Square - Victoria

Victoria: Victoria - Brixton: Pimlico (105); Vauxhall (106); Stockwell (107); Brixton (108)

Victoria: Brixton - Stockwell

Northern: Stockwell - Kennington: Oval (109); Kennington (110)

Northern: Kennington - Morden: Clapham North (111); Clapham Common (112); Clapham South (113); Balham (114); Tooting Bec (115); Tooting Broadway (116); Colliers Wood (117); South Wimbledon (118); Morden (119)

OON: Morden - Wimbledon: Wimbledon (120)

District: Wimbledon - Kensington Olympia: Wimbledon Park (121); Southfields (122); East Putney (123); Putney Bridge (124); Parsons Green (125); Fulham Broadway (126); West Brompton (127); Earl's Court (128); Kensington Olympia (129)

OON: Kensington Olympia - Shepherd's Bush: Shepherd's Bush (130)

Central: Shepherd's Bush - White City: White City (131)

Central: White City - Woodford (via Hainault): Holland Park (132); Notting Hill Gate (133); Queensway (134); Lancaster Gate (135); Marble Arch (136); Bond Street (137); Tottenham Court Road (138); Holborn (139); Chancery Lane (140); St. Paul's (141); Bank (142); Liverpool Street (143); Bethnal Green (144); Stratford (145); Leyton (146); Leytonstone (147); Wanstead (148); Redbridge (149); Gants Hill (150); Newbury Park (151); Barkingside (152); Fairlop (153); Hainault (154); Grange Hill (155); Chigwell (156); Roding Valley (157); Woodford (158)

Central: Woodford - Epping: Buckhurst Hill (159); Loughton (160); Debden (161); Theydon Bois (162); Epping (163)

Central: Epping - Snaresbrook: South Woodford (164); Snaresbrook (165)

OON: Snaresbrook - Walthamstow Central: Walthamstow Central (166)

Victoria: Walthamstow Central - Warren Street: Blackhorse Road (167); Tottenham Hale (168); Seven Sisters (169); Finsbury Park (170); Highbury & Islington (171); King's Cross St Pancras (172); Euston (173); Warren Street (174)

Northern: Warren Street - Goodge Street: Goodge Street (175)

Northern: Goodge Street - Edgware: Mornington Crescent (176); Camden Town (177); Chalk Farm (178); Belsize Park (179); Hampstead (180); Golders Green (181); Brent Cross (182); Hendon Central (183); Colindale (184); Burnt Oak (185); Edgware (186)

OON: Edgware - Canons Park: Canons Park (187)

Jubilee: Canons Park - Stanmore: Stanmore (188)

Jubilee: Stanmore - Baker Street: Queensbury (189); Kingsbury (190); Wembley Park (191); Neasden (192); Dollis Hill (193); Willesden Green (194); Kilburn (195); West Hampstead (196); Finchley Road (197); Swiss Cottage (198); St. Johns Wood (199)

Circle: Baker Street - Moorgate: Great Portland Street (200); Euston Square (201); Farringdon (202); Barbican (203); Moorgate (204)

Northern: Moorgate - High Barnet (via Mill Hill East): Old Street (205); Angel (206); Kentish Town (207); Tufnell Park (208); Archway (209); Highgate (210); East Finchley (211); Finchley Central (212); Mill Hill East (213); West Finchley (214); Woodside Park (215); Totteridge & Whetstone (216); High Barnet (217)

OON: High Barnet - Cockfosters: Cockfosters (218)

Piccadilly: Cockfosters - South Kensington: Oakwood (219); Southgate (220); Arnos Grove (221); Bounds Green (222); Wood Green (223); Turnpike Lake (224); Manor House (225); Arsenal (226); Holloway Road (227); Caledonian Road (228); Russell Square (229); Covent Garden (230); Leicester Square (231); Green Park (232); Hyde Park Corner (233); Knightbridge (234); South Kensington (235)

District: South Kensington - Edgware Road: Gloucester Road (236); High Street Kensington (237); Bayswater (238); Edgware Road (H&C/District) (239)

Hammersmith & City - Edgware Road - Hammersmith: Paddington (H&C) (240); Royal Oak (241); Westbourne Park (242); Ladbroke Grove (243); Latimer Road (244); Wood Lane (245); Shepherd's Bush Market (246); Goldhawk Road (247); Hammersmith (H&C/Circle) (248)

OON: Hammersmith (H&C/Circle) - (District/Piccadilly): Hammersmith (District/Piccadilly) (249)

District: Hammersmith - West Kensington: Barons Court (250); West Kensington (251)

District: West Kensington - Richmond: Ravenscourt Park (252); Stamford Brook (253); Turnham Green (254); Gunnersbury (255); Kew Gardens (256); Richmond (257)

District: Richmond - Acton Town: Chiswick Park (258); Acton Town (259)

Piccadilly: Acton Town - Heathrow Terminal 4: South Ealing (260); Northfields (261); Boston Manor (262); Osterley (263); Hounslow East (264); Hounslow Central (265); Hounslow West (266); Hatton Cross (267); Heathrow 4 (268)

Piccadilly: Heathrow Terminal 4 - 2 & 3: Heathrow 2 & 3 (269)

Piccadilly: Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 - 5: Heathrow 5 (270)

Art on the Underground - Labyrinths

In 2013, as part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, Art on the Underground commissioned artist Mark Wallinger. He produced "Labyrinth" a series of 270 enamel plaques each showing a unique round labyrinth, one for each London Underground station, where they are now displayed. The labyrinths are not mazes, there are no paths that branch off, there is a single path from the red cross on the outside to the centre and back again.

Each of the labyrinths are hand-numbered "#/270", as a limited edition artwork would be. To determine the numbering order, Art on the Underground contacted Andi James and Steve Wilson, current holders of the record for the fastest time to visit all 270 stations, who were also the record holders then with a slower time. Andi and Steve provided them with the route they had used in 2009 for their previous record (forming a three-man team with Martin Hazel). Tube challengers are secretive about the details of their routes, so they must have been willing to divulge this one because it was out-of-date. So the order that the stations were visited for the 2009 record is the order that the labyrinths are numbered from Chesham at #1 to Heathrow Terminal 5 at #270.

I've been thinking of starting a long-term challenge... Seeing all the "Labyrinth" artworks in order.

This won't be efficient time-wise since, at every station, I will have to get off a train, find the labyrinth then get on another train. So I'm thinking of doing it over several days, not consecutively, whenever I happen to be in London. At the end of each day, I'll "stop the clock" on my cumulative time at a particular labyrinth then start again at the same one next time. If and when I ever start this challenge, this is where I'll be blogging about it.

For the record, in my next post, I'll list the route.

Introduction

This is my blog to document my future adventures on London Transport.

Recently I have become interested in the sub-culture of the "tube challenge". This is based on the pursuit of the record for travelling around all 270 stations of the London Underground in the fastest possible time.

As the official rules state...

All of the stations served by London Underground trains must be visited.
To 'visit' a station, the challenger must arrive and/or depart by an underground train in normal public service, but where a service is shared by underground and British Rail trains travelling over the same tracks it is permissible to use the National Rail trains.
It is necessary for a through train to stop at the station for the visit to count, although the challenger does not need to get out. Certain stations are normally only open at certain times of the day, and this must be taken into account in planning.

The current record, recognised by Guinness World Records is 15 hours, 45 minutes and 38 records set on 21 May 2015 by Andi James and Steve Wilson. Some challengers make multiple attempts - I believe that this is the fifth time holding the world record for Andi and fourth time for Steve.

I'm not sure that I would have the stamina to attempt the whole network, but I might have a go at other lesser challenges (with unofficial records) such as "Zone 1" which only includes the 64 stations in fare zone 1 and "All lines" in which you have to travel between at least two stations on all 11 lines.

I also have a few ideas of my own!