Tails of the Underground

Squeak, squeak! We know there are tons of musophobiacs out there, so here’s your warning: the next few paragraphs may contain details which will leave you feeling a tad uneasy.

With the London Underground celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, some interesting statistics have been released, including the amount of rodents living in the tunnels of the iconic transport network.

According to this infographic from TimeOut, there are around 500,000 mice down there.

Yeah, you read that right: half a million crawlers on the tracks.

That equates to one for every six daily passengers, or frighteningly, one for every nine people currently living in Ireland.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are some more interesting facts and figures:

249 miles – the length of the entire network, the same distance as driving from Cork to Ballybofey

60mph – The top speed reached by any train, on the Metropolitan line

11.5 – Days the average Londoner spends commuting every year

58.5m – The deepest station below ground is Hampstead, almost sixty metres underground.

426 - It’s just as well that there are plenty of escalators spread across the network

Check out more underground facts and figures here.

Oh and for good measure, below is last year’s six-part BBC series on the Underground. It’s a fascinating watch.