Ambitexto

Why don't Tube trains crash in the dark?

• On the Victoria line, a train comes every 100 seconds, in tunnels full of bends.
• A small current in the rails finds every train: the wheels make a short cut.
• A broken rail cuts the current too, so it looks exactly like a train.

The Tube has one answer to every doubt: stop.

Words for the text

tunnel

A long hole under the ground for trains.

rails

The two long metal lines under a train.

signal

A light beside the track. Red means stop, green means go.

platform

The place where you wait for a train.

driver

The person who drives the train.

The opening of the text

A train every 100 seconds

Stand on a Victoria line platform in the morning rush hour. A train arrives, the doors open and close, and it leaves. Less than two minutes later, the next one comes in.

At the busiest times, there are 36 trains an hour on this line, one every 100 seconds. It is the most frequent train service in Britain.