- We can’t comprehend the horror of enduring the London Underground for so long.
London is a historic city with plenty of world-famous sights to see. The capital of the United Kingdom is home to the London Bridge, the Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben—and the Tube.
Officially called the London Underground, the Tube was the first underground train system in the world when it opened in 1863. Since then, the subway system has become intricately linked to London’s history, in part due to serving as an enormous bomb shelter during WWII.
Over the decades, the rail network has expanded from its two original stops to cover 272 stations. That begs the question: how long would it take to ride through the entire Tube while visiting every station?
Well, it would take 18 hours, eight minutes, and 13 seconds.
That’s the new world record time a group of eight British teens recently set for speeding through the Tube. But you’d be wrong to think the task was as easy as just sitting on a train.
Having lived in London, I can promise you—if something can hamper your journey on the Tube, it will.
Months of Planning
The team of champion teenagers consists of eight friends, aged 16 to 17. They now officially call their ensemble the Amersham Ambushers, after the last Tube station they visited on their record run.
Their world record was a long time in the making. In fact, the teens had already tried to pull it off twice before.
Both attempts ended in failure, due to various reasons. Yet, the group of “train nerds” — as they call themselves — was adamant about completing the challenge.
“We wanted to complete this record for two reasons,” Arthur Phillips, a member of the Amersham Ambushers, told Guinness World Records.
“It was a fun puzzle planning the route as some of us are quite mathematically inclined, and additionally, it allowed us to explore parts of London that we hadn’t ever had reason to go to before.”
Indeed, their trip took months of planning. The Ambushers also had to make sure they followed the Guinness World Records’ rules for the London Tube Challenge.
For a station visit to count, the teens had to be aboard a train that stopped at the station. They didn’t have to get off the train, but it had to come to a complete stop and open its doors.
In addition, they had to include Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, the newest stations established in 2021 that weren’t included in the previous 15-hour-45-minute record. Although they connect to the Tube, the team could ignore the Elizabeth and DLR lines, as they don’t count as “underground.”
During their previous attempts, the teens had tried running the Tube from east to west, terminating at Heathrow Airport. Since both of those attempts failed, they decided to do something drastic and flip the route.
‘The Feeling is Incredible’
After months of planning, the Ambushers set off on their attempt on October 23, 2023. Yeah, it takes a while for Guinness to verify records.
In true London Underground fashion, problems started as soon as the teens took off from Heathrow. Their first train lost power before it ever even made it out of the airport.
That was fine, though — the team had prepared for this. They had a plan to swap trains at any moment, running through the tunnels connecting stations if they had to, to make it to the next one.
Walking is allowed in the rules, by the way. You just can’t use private vehicles.
Yet, even with a plan, the day proved to be an excruciating challenge. The team faced constant train delays, and 10 of their trains were halted at red lights somewhere along the way for often incomprehensible reasons.
Oh, and one of them lost their wallet, possibly to a pickpocket. Welcome to the Tube.
“We spent 18+ hours sitting on trains, running between stations and stressing out,” explained Phillips.
He said that the worst parts of the challenge were the aforementioned delays, which forced the group to recalculate their route on the fly. You can add to that the physical stress of running through stations and streets to catch the next train in time.
Yet, finally, they pulled into Amersham — completing the route an hour and 56 minutes faster than the previous record.
“The feeling is incredible, obviously. We had a little party to celebrate where we drank some Guinness, very appropriately,” said Phillips.
Before you ask, 16-year-olds can drink beer in the U.K. with a meal when accompanied by an adult. Then again, you might forgive the Ambushers just once for celebrating their achievement.