London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 22, 2026

London’s most unreliable tube lines REVEALED - over 22 million hours of delays in 2018

Millions of people use the London underground travel to work every day and when delays strike and tubes grind to a halt, commuters are often left stranded and face lengthier journeys. New research by Casino.co.uk, reveals the tube lines most affected by delays of more than 15 minutes. The District line came off worse, with 198 delays.

The tube line accounted for 17 percent of all tube delays, with a total of 2.5 million hours lost as a result.

But despite having fewer delays, the Central line caused the longest delays with 179 delays totalling over 5.2 million hours.

The researchers calculated that in the time lost by customers travelling on this busy commuter line one person could have flown around the world a staggering 101,962 times.

Waterloo and City came in last, with just 24 delays and 130,404 hours lost.

But this is likely because the tube line only covers a ver short distance, only travelling between Waterloo and Bank.

The Victoria and Jubilee also recorded fewer delays, with 46 and 64 respectively.

Delays on the London Underground can be caused by numerous different reasons, such as power failure, signalling problems and strikes.

The research found almost 15 percent of all 2018 delays were caused by staff shortages.

Signal failures were the most common cause of delays across all tube lines.

Surprisingly, the Northern lines most cited reason put customers and the public at fault.

In total, 1,164 delays were recorded across all London Underground lines in 2018.

This resulted in customers losing over 22 million hours, which equates to watching over 248,000 football matches.

This week the Jubilee line has caused havoc for thousands of London commuters.

On Tuesday services were suspended between Finchley Road and Waterloo, causing severe delays.

Several stations had to be shut temporarily due to overcrowding and it took almost four houses for the line to resume to a good service.

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