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You may have noticed, we've been having a little bit of hot weather recently, which always brings out the 'how hot is the tube?' headlines. But rather than complain about it, we decided that a guide to where it's not (quite so) hot might be handy. Inspired by a journey on one of the new, shiny, fully air-conditioned Crossrail trains out east towards Shenfield, we've put together a TfL/tube map showing where all the air-conditioned (or air-cooled) services run.
Replan your route home tonight accordingly.
So, which are these blissful services?
- Any 'S-Stock' train, which run on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.
- The London Overground (but not the lines out of Liverpool Street or the Emerson Park branch) are actually air-cooled — not air-conditioned — but boy, do they feel nice in the heat.
- TfL Rail between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington, and out east between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, have the new Crossrail 'purple trains', which are properly air-conditioned.
- Croydon and surroundings have two types of tram. The newer ones are air-conditioned, so we've included the trams on our map too.
- And then, just because we think that the central core section of Thameslink should be on the tube map anyway, we've included it because the new trains are also nicely air-conditioned.
- A new addition for 2019 is the Northern City Line out of Moorgate/Old Street to Finsbury Park — the new trains there now have air con. Hurrah!
We should note that there are also several National Rail operators that have air-conditioned trains. They're not shown on this map, as this is a TfL/tube style map.
It's also worth noting that the DLR isn't air-conditioned, but it's often been noted that between Island Gardens and Cutty Sark, the air is always cooler than the outside temperature due to the tunnel going under the Thames at that point.
Finally, you'll hear the message (on many train operators) to 'carry a bottle of water with you'. We'd go one step further and remind you that just carrying it isn't enough — you actually need to drink it, to stay hydrated.
See also (because heck, it really is hot out there):
