Victoria Line: London's Incredible Underground Line

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[RMTransit]

Yes the Victoria Line is named after Victoria station which is cyclically named after Victoria Street (which IIrC is named after the station!).

[AndoCommando]

You haven't lived until you've travelled on the Victoria Line. Not only is every single stop except one (Pimlico) on the entirety of the Victoria line also an interchange, it's also the Lightspeed line. Ridiculously fast acceleration, it rockets through every tunnel. The highest train frequency of any tube line. It really gets you places.
Friends of ours from overseas who regularly visit London but hadn't used the Victoria Line before came to our house and really were in awe at how far it had taken them in so little time.

[AlteranAnciote]

The Victoria Line is one of my favourite Tube lines, because any Londoner knows that you're allowed to have (and will have) favourites. It's the fastest way from North to South (or South to North), the trains are relatively fast, clean, frequent, and the connections are incredibly convenient (partly in thanks to those level platform interchanges). Every year there's a "vote for your favourite" poll, the Victoria is almost always one of the finalists (or winner).

The Jubilee Line is my second favourite, because of the platform edge doors, the speed, and the cool sounds the trains make. :-)

[rwm]

Transfer from Victoria Line to Bakerloo Line, and vice versa, at Oxford Circus makes a journey from King's Cross to Waterloo, and vice versa, seamless. Very often the 'second' train arrives just as you reach the platform. But, you do need to know where to be on the train so that you are right by the (short) transfer 'tunnel' to make it work really well!

[morzee]

The Victoria line isn’t flashy in the way the JLE or Elizabeth lines are, so I agree it’s underrated. As a Londoner, a station on the Victoria line is very rarely my destination but I very often travel via it. I suppose that’s what makes it such a useful line to so many people. A very well thought out piece of infrastructure. Great video!

[francoking]

My Dad laboured on the excavation of the 'Victoria Line' [ specifically around 'Green Park' ] tunnels, in the late-sixties. Before I was even a twinkle in his eye. And, yet, today, over 50 years into the future, my first-love is... 'Transport-Systems'. I'm so proud of my Dad.

[yosolo]

I love the Victoria Line....it's funny to think that it was built to relieve other lines, and yet now we have Crossrail 2 being planned to relieve the Victoria Line

[jacke]

The cross platform transfer between the Northern Line and Victoria Line at Stockwell works incredibly well. Going northbound in the mornings, there is a massive amount of cross transfer between the lines — I'd estimate 25-50% of passengers swap trains with only a 25 metre walk or so between them!

[JamesScantlebury]

The frequency of the line is incredible.
The replacement of the 1960s ATO with modern CBTC moving block signalling means we enjoy 36tph (every 100’) for 3 hours at peak! (A minor correction - since May 2019)

The only good thing about the terrible 2000s Tube PPP - is that the companies ordered extra trains just in case. So there’s enough trains to run 40tph!
However, the 1960s station platforms are too narrow, and the use is so high - that you can’t get people on and off the trains fast enough and clear the platforms fast enough to lower dwell times enough to be able to run more than 36tph.

To increase to 40tph, massive costs would be required to widen platforms, improve circulation and add escalators deep underground - not worth the cost for only a few extra trains per hour.
Better to invest that money in Crossrail 2, which will relieve the Victoria line. (But TfL have no money)

[Thom-TRA]

The Yūrakuchō Line in Tokyo was built around the same time for the same reason: to relieve congestion on the Marunouchi Line. They’re named after adjacent districts in Tokyo.

[alexanderpbyron]

The Victoria has always felt like the workhorse of the Underground. And at least it gets recognition for it, unlike the Central, being ranked one of Londoner's favourite lines!

[johnhall]

Great to see a line I know very well from a different viewpoint. I was at school in Walthamstow when the line was bored very close to under the buildings, so all my fellow transport nerds all immediately became tunnelling experts and followed the progress of the construction, especially the unusual aspects, like having to freeze the water-bearing gravel at Tottenham Hale in order to put in the escalator shafts. One of the reasons that the Vic line is so fast is that it was able to have a lot of straight track. The earlier tube lines were forced in many places to follow the lines of the streets above, which created many very slow and winding sections in places such as the Central Line between Liverpool Street and St. Pauls. I could bore for hours about this line (as my sons will attest) but I'll leave it at that. Thank you for your excellent work!

[trainlagged]

Paris's RER A runs alongside metro line 1, with the aim to make journeys quicker and de-congest what was indeed the busiest line on the metro !

[LightbulbTedbear]

I wonder if you've considered doing a video on the Valencia metro? It's such a weird system. Heavy interlining, very bad on-train wayfinding, cool integration between tram and train, and VERY low frequencies on some lines. I was there the other day, trying to get on line 1 to explore the system a bit, and the lady at the information counter told me line 1 runs ONCE PER HOUR.

[vjaska]

It also does something that only the Northern & Jubilee do (not counting the Bakerloo at Elephant) and that's actually serve parts of South London, including my own area at Brixton which is one of the busiest stations outside of Zone 1

[bananaman]

One strange and mysterious fact about London is that if one is travelling between Euston and Kings Cross/St Pancras on The Victoria Line one is heading NORTH but if one is travelling between Euston and Kings Cross/St Pancras on The Northern Line one is heading SOUTH!! 😄

[regresssion]

The northbound Victoria to Northern line transfer at Euston is my favourite transfer on the entire tube map, and now I know why! Great video 🙌

[lucasfontainha]

Wow, I loved this vid as much as I love Viccy line. It's so FAST and bright and straight to the point...for instance it makes Brixton a far more accessible place than let's say Stratford. That on platform change at Euston is truly magical, at least for London haha. Northern is still my favourite, but Victoria holds a place in my heart 💙

[gerrymckenna]

Enjoyed the video especially being a former passenger. As a coincidence you mention Crossrail 2 which is a modern updated / enlarged version of a previously proposed "Chelsea - Hackney" tube. This was part of London Transport proposals back in the 1950s, 1960s which also included the Victoria Line. Urban legend suggest there is a secret access to the Victoria Line for the Royal Family as the line runs very close by Buckingham Palace between Victoria and Green Park.

[cmw]

I've been poking Jago for a video just about the Victoria line's cross platform interchanges and how they were designed for a while so thanks for this. The Euston one was always a curiosity as well as how they managed to do so many with so many other lines including the Bakerloo at Oxford Circus and the Northern Line again at Stockwell. The subject of humps/troughs between stations is a bonus subject I've wondered about with where in the world they use the gravity to help.