Victoria line

Victoria line
A 2009 stock Victoria line train at Euston
Overview
Stations	16
Colour on map	Light blue
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	London Underground
Depot(s)	Northumberland Park
Rolling stock	2009 Stock
Ridership	199.988 million (2011/12)[1] passenger journeys
History
Opened	1 September 1968
Technical
Line length	21 km (13 mi)
Character	Deep-level
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Transport for London rail lines London Underground Bakerloo Central Circle District Hammersmith & City Jubilee Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly Victoria Waterloo & City Other systems Crossrail DLR London Trams London Overground TfL Rail v t e

The Victoria line is part of the London Underground network. It is a deep-level underground metro line that runs from Brixton in south London to Walthamstow Central in the north-east. It started running in 1968. On the Tube map it is shown with a light blue color. It is the fourth busiest line on the London Underground network.^[2][3] It is the only line on the Underground, other than the two-stop Waterloo & City line, which is completely underground. The only section of track to come above ground is the route to the depot from Seven Sisters to Northumberland Park.

The Underground line has hump-backed stations which allow trains to store gravitational potential energy as they arrive and to then use this energy as they leave the stations. The stations are on top of small hills, or humps. As the train travels up the hill to the station its weight helps it to slow down. As the train leaves the station it travels down the hill, with gravity helping the train to speed up. This saves 5% energy and makes the trains run 9% faster.^[4] Each new platform built for the Victoria Line is 132.6 metres long.^[5] Around 200 million people use the Victoria line each year.^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "LU Performance Data Almanac". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
2. ↑ "Northumberland Park Depot". Metronet Rail. Archived from the original on 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
3. ↑ "Tube Prune - London Underground Statistics". Tube Prune. 2003-04-21. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
4. ↑ MacKay, David J.C. (2008). Sustainable Energy - without the hot air (Free full text). ISBN 978-1-906860-01-1.
5. ↑ "2009 Tube Stock on Track" (PDF). London Underground Railway Society. Retrieved 2009-07-12.