Could this tube line be closed? Would it make a difference??

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The 'most useless' London Underground line that could be closed and it wouldn't make a huge difference

Says the headline in a myLondon Article

Go on - I'll bite.   And spoiler alert, I'm about to tell you which ....

... turn away if you don't want to know ...

... still here?   Here it comes ...

Another Tube line with its own interesting quirk is the Hammersmith & City line, which no longer has unique stations. Every single one of this line's 29 stations is shared with another Tube line, something which no other line has. The stations shared with the line are mainly also on the Circle line, which also starts in Hammersmith moving eastwards.

The line runs all the way from Hammersmith in West London to Barking in the east, with its stations all being served by another line. Ladbrooke Grove and Edgware Road are on the Circle line, for example, while King's Cross and Farringdon stations are both on the Metropolitan line.

Aldgate East and Whitechapel, on the other hand, is served by the District line, as well as the Hammersmith & City line. Two stations on the line are served by four other TfL^» (Transport for London - about) lines - one is Baker Street, which also connects to Bakerloo, Circle, Jubilee and Metropolitan. The other is Paddington, which connects to Bakerloo, Circle, District and the Elizabeth line.

However, it is fair to say that if the Hammersmith & City line disappeared, then you'd still be able to get where you needed to go - but you'd need to change a few times. This of course likely means the journey would take a bit longer than just sitting one train. However, the Hammersmith and City line trains only come every 10 minutes or so - so depending so good your timing is, maybe it would make no difference.

The "quirk" of no unique stations on just that line is, mind you, also shared by the circle line and the Waterloo and City ...

There possibly is something to be said for rebranding both "Hammersmith and City" and "Circle" into a single brand.   The Circle isn't a circle (or even a distorted one) any more,  and there may even be a case for slightly cutting back on the 12 trains per hour from Paddington to Liverpool Street now that the Elizabeth Line is open on that stretch.  But though you could get rid of the name "Hammersmith and City" many of its trains would still need to run.   It used to be part of the "Met" many years ago, and perhaps the Met could be extended from Aldgate to Whitechapel and Barking and the trains from Hammersmith in excess of those needed t o complete the circle (I think Aldgate via the District to South Ken is at capacity?) could be turned at Aldgate, but that may be a pointless changed - what through journeys are there from west and north of Baker Street to beyond Aldgate/East?

Now - if you want a quirk.   The most southerly station on the tube - Morden - in on the Northern line!!

[Electric train]

The "quirk" of no unique stations on just that line is, mind you, also shared by the circle line and the Waterloo and City ...

There possibly is something to be said for rebranding both "Hammersmith and City" and "Circle" into a single brand.   The Circle isn't a circle (or even a distorted one) any more,  and there may even be a case for slightly cutting back on the 12 trains per hour from Paddington to Liverpool Street now that the Elizabeth Line is open on that stretch.  But though you could get rid of the name "Hammersmith and City" many of its trains would still need to run.   It used to be part of the "Met" many years ago, and perhaps the Met could be extended from Aldgate to Whitechapel and Barking and the trains from Hammersmith in excess of those needed t o complete the circle (I think Aldgate via the District to South Ken is at capacity?) could be turned at Aldgate, but that may be a pointless changed - what through journeys are there from west and north of Baker Street to beyond Aldgate/East?

Removing the 'ot n cold (H&C) is not closing a line as such it would be just changing a service, no real cost savings as the 'ammersmith - Barking services would remain in the peaks at least.  What would the Circle (or not circle) and H&C rebranded as thought?  Errrrrrr Metropolitan District ............ no already used, Metropolitan Line ........... no already used

The W'loo - Bank does provide a direct link which is not easy to replicate without changes enroute

[Ralph Ayres]

Best to ignore these clickbait articles; it only encourages them! There are of course no plans to close the H&C.

[grahame]

Removing the 'ot n cold (H&C) is not closing a line as such it would be just changing a service, no real cost savings as the 'ammersmith - Barking services would remain in the peaks at least.  What would the Circle (or not circle) and H&C rebranded as thought?  Errrrrrr Metropolitan District ............ no already used, Metropolitan Line ........... no already used

The W'loo - Bank does provide a direct link which is not easy to replicate without changes enroute

I wondered about a name too for changed (not removed) services.   It struck me that we have a Victoria Line (after Queen Victoria) and an Elizabeth Line (after QE2).  Previous Queens of England were Mary and Anne, so there are two names for you, and then Lady Jane Grey ruled for a few days, so you could rebrand the southern section of the northern.  While we're about it - all lines with ladies names - move on to Prime Ministers - the Margaret Line and the Theresa Line, with the Liz line where the trains run to a different tune every day.

[IndustryInsider]

How about The Charles Line?

[stuving]

Now - if you want a quirk.   The most southerly station on the tube - Morden - in on the Northern line!!

Seems a sensible enough names from trains that take you north from Morden. Would it help if the southbound trains were called the Southern Line?

More interestingly, is there scope for other services within the same network to be given their own names? It's been done to some extent, of course, in transferring a peripheral bit of a line to a new route through the core (e.g. Jubilee). But the two sides of the Northern Line could be given names that make the service less confusing (perhaps not the East Northern and West Northern, though).

But surely there is scope for "building" new lines very cheaply, so they can be opened and made a big fuss of to make someone or other look good. OK, there's not many links to use, particularly on the deeps tubes, but even if you had to build a new one it would still be a lot cheaper than a whole new tunneled route!

[Bmblbzzz]

Now - if you want a quirk.   The most southerly station on the tube - Morden - in on the Northern line!!

Seems a sensible enough names from trains that take you north from Morden. Would it help if the southbound trains were called the Southern Line?

It could be called the Line of Longitude? 

[paul7575]

As said by others I also think this is pure click bait.

Everyone managed perfectly well before the line was renamed and recoloured in 1990, it was just another branch of the Metropolitan network when I were a lad, as was the underground operated East London line at that time.

Paul

[Bmblbzzz]

Isn't this like "all the right notes but not the right order"? Every H&C line station is also served by at least one other line, but there are certain links which only the H&C makes. In this case, it's between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East. If the line were to be closed, that link would cease; unless the line were simply "recrayoned" in a different colour (perhaps green, brown or even red).

[Richard Fairhurst]

It struck me that we have a Victoria Line (after Queen Victoria) and an Elizabeth Line (after QE2).

And when through-running starts next month, you'll be able to go from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (Stratford), on an Elizabeth Line train, to the Queen's Terminal (Heathrow)...