‘Like a sauna’: London tube travellers swelter in temperatures higher than legal limit for cattle

The tube infrastructure is difficult to adapt because of its age and the surrounding clay. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The tube infrastructure is difficult to adapt because of its age and the surrounding clay. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian ‘Like a sauna’: London tube travellers swelter in temperatures higher than legal limit for cattle The tube cannot easily be adapted to cope with heatwaves, making conditions almost unbearable As the escalator descends below ground at King’s Cross St Pancras station in London , the shift from what was already a hot station entrance to the furnace-like subterranean depths is perceptible. On the tube it’s worse: a man leans back in his seat, eyes closed, sweltering; people hold electric fans an inch away from their faces. London commuters are known for their stoicism and the heat appears to be another tribulation to accept. They will need to: heatwaves in the capital are becoming routine. “We’re quite lucky that this platform is almost empty, because when the platform gets packed it’s [like a] sauna,” Anna, a passenger at Oxford Circus, says. “When it’s peak hours, it’s quite difficult.” View image in fullscreen In the UK, it is illegal to transport cattle above 30C, but the mercury hit 32C on the train and 34C on the Victoria Line platform at Finsbury Park. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian Anna says she usually adapts well to hot temperatures, but even she finds the heat on the platform hard to bear. Craig, another passenger, says he has to travel in gym clothes and change into his work clothes at the office because of the heat on the tube. London’s underground isn’t adapted for the 30C+ heatwaves that have hit the city over the last few summers. Lines such as the Victoria line – the deepest on the network – and the Bakerloo line – which TfL says has some of the oldest trains in passenger use anywhere in the country – are particularly bad when it comes to withstanding the heat. View image in fullscreen A traveller tries to keep cool with a handheld fan. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian Sharmin, a barista at the Pret a Manger stationed by the barriers at King’s Cross St Pancras, says she has seen people faint in and around the station. She finds the heat so oppressive that she has asked to go home early during some of her shifts this week. She wonders why there are no coolers or industrial fans set up near Pret or the barriers. “I’ve felt like I was going to faint,” she says. A quick glance at the thermometer I’m carrying on this unscientific investigation shows that the station is about 30C. On the platform and tube it crawls up to 32C, and then at the Victoria line platform at Finsbury Park it hits 34C. In the UK, it is illegal to transport cattle above 30C; transporting people at 34C, though, might be becoming the norm. View image in fullscreen Anna, pictured at Oxford Circus, says the platform becomes like a ‘sauna’ during peak hours. Photograph: Linda Nylin