Is the Metropolitan Line a Tube line?

The Metropolitan Line is a Subsurface Line of the London Underground. It runs between Aldgate/Baker St and Amersham, with branches to Uxbridge, Chesham, and Watford. It has 34 Stations, and a very unique service pattern, with Fast, Semi-Fast, and All Stations services.



This is a "trick" question with a nuanced 2026 answer: technically, the Metropolitan Line is an Underground line, but it is not a "Tube" line. A supportive peer "transit" distinction: Londoners distinguish between "Tube" (deep-level, small, circular tunnels like the Northern or Piccadilly lines) and "Sub-surface" lines (larger, shallower tunnels like the Metropolitan, District, and Circle lines). The Metropolitan uses much larger trains (S8 stock) and was the world's first underground railway (opened 1863). While everyone colloquially calls the whole system "The Tube," if you want to be technically correct in 2026, the Metropolitan is a sub-surface railway. It is also the only line that runs "express" services, reaching speeds up to 60 mph in the outer suburbs—far faster than the actual "Tube" lines.

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The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between Aldgate in the City of London and Amersham and Chesham in Buckinghamshire, with branches to Watford in Hertfordshire and Uxbridge in Hillingdon.

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The Metropolitan Line is a joy to ride - once you've got on the right branch. The Metropolitan Line averages 1.8 million Lost Customer Hours per year. Spanning from East to West, the Hammersmith and City Line comes fourth in terms of reliability. It has an average of 2.2 million Lost Customer Hours per year.

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Ranked: London's worst Tube lines for delays
  • District – 244 days with delays.
  • Piccadilly – 202 days with delays.
  • Circle – 176 days with delays.
  • Central – 166 days with delays.
  • Metropolitan – 143 days with delays.
  • Bakerloo – 129 days with delays.
  • Hammersmith & City – 125 days with delays.
  • Victoria – 97 days with delays.


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Thanks! The tube is the local slang for the subway system known formally as the London Underground. Most of the tunnels and many stations have rounded walls, hence the nickname. The London system is vast and covers most of the city.

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Speakers of British English also use subway for systems in American cities and metro for systems in other European countries. The Metro is the name for the systems in Paris and Washington, D.C. London's system is often called the Tube.

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The best Tube lines to live on
  • The Victoria Line. This is the favoured line if you live in North London and need to get to stops like Oxford Circus of Victoria in the fastest time. ...
  • The Jubilee Line. ...
  • The District Line. ...
  • The Central Line. ...
  • Fastest Tube line. ...
  • Other Tube lines. ...
  • The DLR and London Overground.


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The Night Tube is coming to the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines – but only after 2023. Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed plans to roll out Night Tube services to the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines once a major upgrade programme is complete in 2023.

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A city's underground railway system is usually called the underground (often the Underground) in British English and the subway in North American English. Speakers of British English also use subway for systems in American cities and metro for systems in other European countries.

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Since then the Underground network, affectionately nicknamed the Tube by generations of Londoners, has grown to 272 stations and 11 lines stretching deep into the Capital's suburbs and beyond.

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Maneuver Manhattan's train system like a local Here, Archer Hotel New York's consummate host offers timely tips on navigating the New York City subway (aka train) system like a boss. LOCAL TIP: New Yorkers typically call the subway “trains” (not underground or metro) or by their alpha name (the C or the Q).

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