please empty your brain below
I'd have a quick stab at Amersham.
Charing Cross - Embankment (1 stop)
Embankment - Victoria (3)
Victoria to Stockwell (3)
Stockwell to London Bridge (5)
London Bridge to West Ham (6)
West Ham to Liverpool Street (7)
Liverpool Street to Kings Cross (4)
Kings Cross to Piccadilly Circus (5)
Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus (1)
Oxford Circus to Paddington (5)
Paddington to Notting Hill Gate (2)
Notting Hill Gate to Bond Street (4)
Bond Street to Green Park (1)
Green Park to South Kensington (3)
South Kensington to Ealing Common (10)
Ealing Common to Rayners Lane (7)
Rayners Lane to Harrow-on-the-Hill (2)
Harrow-on-the-Hill to Amersham (9)
That makes it 78 stops I think, without passing through any station or interchange point twice!
I think if we are counting stations then the furthest is also the closest as in Embankment. The way I did it was as follows.
From Charing Cross on the Northern Line to Totenham Court Road.
Totenham Court Road on the Central Line to Liverpool Street.
Liverpool Street on the Circle line via Edgware Road to Victoria.
Victoria on the Victoria line to Stockwell.
Stockwell on the Northern Line to London Bridge.
London Bridge on the Jubilee Line to West Ham.
West Ham on the District Line to Embankment
Embankment is the 50th station.
Ah, are you asking what the longest path on the tube map starting from Charing Cross is, or the station that is furthest, but you have to take the shortest route?
It might be an obvious comment, but is there anything in DG's rules which state the you can't use the same section of track/stations twice etc....?
Surely we need to work out the minimum number of stop to reach each Underground station from Charing Cross, and then look for the station where that minimum number is the greatest?
Have I misscounted?
If my arithmetic is correct, which it rarely is, I believe the Heathrow T5 21 stops includes Turnham Green, but it can be done without stopping at Turnham Green, for a journey not early morning or late evening.
Stops to the ends of the
Bakerloo
Elephant 4
H&W 19 (using Circle between Baker Street and Paddington)
Central:
Ealing see District Line
W Ruislip 19 (via Oxford Circus,
Fairlop 16 (via Waterloo, and Bank)
Hainault 16 (via Waterloo, Bank and Woodford)
Epping 20 (via Waterloo and Bank)
District Line
Ealing 12 (via Picc Circus and Acton Town),
Richmond 14 (via Picc Circus and Hammermsith)
Wimbledon 15 (via Picc Circus and earls court)
Upminster 20 (via Waterloo, Bank, Stratford, West Ham)
Jubilee Line
Stratford 6 (via Waterloo and bank)
Stanmore 10 via Baker Street and Wembley park
Metropolitan Line
Aldgate 4 via waterloo bank and Liverpool Street
Chesham, Amersham 18
Uxbridge 17
Watford 16
(all via Baker Street)
Northern line
Edgware 12
Mill Hill east 14
High barnet 15
(all by changing at Euston to skip Mornington Crescent)
Morden 14
Piccadilly Line
Uxbridge see Met
Heathrow T5 20 via Picc Circus
Cockfosters 15 (via Oxford circus and Finsbury Park, or via Leicester Sq, Kings Cross and Finsbury Park)
Victoria line
Brixton 6 (via Stockwell)
Walthamstow 11 (via Oxford Circus)
So the result is a tie between Epping, Upminster and Terminal 5, all on 20.
In order to keep the number of stops to a minimum, some of these routes are quite contrived though, especially those the eastern ends of the Central and District Lines!
I can't see a shorter way than 20 to Upminster (via Wtareloo, Bank, Stratfiord, West Ham) or Heathrow (via Picadilly Circus) though - unless you are counting Turnham Green as a Picadilly Line stop.
And I agree we don't need to count Turnham Green, because Piccadilly trains don't usually stop there.
In which case we have an answer...
...it's a tie between Upminster (20) and Heathrow Terminal 5 (20).
Nowhere on the tube network is more than 20 stations away from Charing Cross.
Which begs another question...
Is there a better starting station than Charing Cross?
dg says: I added that to clarify the rules, after various people headed off in the wrong direction. Hopefully it's clear now.
Min (varying over all start stations) of max (varying over all end stations) of min (varying over all routes) of (station count from start station to end station via route).
Is it?
The distance from Heathrow T5 to South Kensington is clearly 15. So travelling 4 more stops, the furthest 'east' we can get is Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Westminster.
From the other side, the distance from West Ham to Upminster is 12. From there, we could take the Jubilee to London Bridge (which is then 18 from Upminster, which is too big).
So, instead we'll try to get to Liverpool Street or Bank/Monument. It's easy to see, that Liverpool Street is 4 away from West Ham, and Bank is 5 away.
So we reach Liverpool Street in 16 stops from Upminster, Bank in 17. It is clear that out of our candidates, only Westminster is two stops from Bank, so it the unique answer.
So, one can travel between any two stations on the underground in at most 38 stops.
Euston (and therefore all the termini accessed therethrough) is the same number of stations from Westminster as Charing Cross - and incidentally I overlooked that Charing Cross to Euston via Oxford Circus is one stop less than the "direct route" via Goodge Street.
And unless anyone can find a shorter T5 to Upminster route by-passing Westminster, 38 does seems to be the max.
Although it doesn't affect the result, it is possible to get to the outer reaches of the Met in fewer stops by getting a fast or semi fast service.
I fancied finding the quickest way to travel on the Underground when I was working. So I just looked at the times of travel for ten stations on any one train from Charing Cross on a Monday at midday. 17 minutes each to Kilburn Park and Hampstead and 16 minutes to Archway.
Now I am wondering where is the quickest ten-station journey on any one train anywhere on the system at that time. Or more fun perhaps for five stations. I might even try some fivers out from time to time.
(was that too many exclamation marks?)
dg writes: Yup, it broke the comments box, so I culled them.
TridentScan | Privacy Policy