Transport
Night Tube: which London Underground lines actually run all night
On this page
- The straight answer, line by line
- Which lines run
- Trap one: the branch you need may not be the branch that runs
- Trap two: “Friday night” means Saturday morning
- Trap three: the gap before it starts
- Trap four: how often trains actually come
- What it costs
- When the Night Tube is not the answer
- Quick answers
- The short version
The short answer
Night Tube runs only on Friday and Saturday nights: Victoria, Jubilee, parts of Central, Northern via Charing Cross, Piccadilly to Heathrow Terminal 5, and Windrush Overground. Sunday to Thursday, use a night bus.
The London Underground does not run 24 hours a day. It never has. What it has, since 2016, is a Night Tube: a handful of lines that keep going through Friday night and Saturday night, and stop dead the rest of the week.
That distinction catches out visitors and Londoners alike. Below is the shape of it — and, more usefully, the four things that go wrong even when you have picked the right line.
Before you rely on this: night services are the first thing cut for engineering work, strikes and staff shortages, often with a few days' notice. Check the live status at tfl.gov.uk on the night you travel. This page describes the normal pattern, not a promise.
The straight answer, line by line
If you came here to ask whether one particular line runs all night, this is it. Nothing runs overnight from Sunday to Thursday. Everything below means Friday and Saturday nights only.
| Line | Runs through the night? |
|---|---|
| Victoria | Yes — the whole line |
| Jubilee | Yes — the whole line |
| Central | Yes, but not every branch |
| Northern | Yes, Charing Cross branch only — not via Bank |
| Piccadilly | Yes, Cockfosters to Heathrow T5 — not Terminal 4, not Uxbridge |
| Windrush (Overground) | Yes — Highbury & Islington to New Cross Gate |
| Elizabeth line | No |
| Bakerloo | No |
| Circle | No |
| District | No |
| Hammersmith & City | No |
| Metropolitan | No |
| Waterloo & City | No |
| DLR | No |
| Tram | No |
| Night buses | Yes — every night of the week |
So: six lines run, eight do not, and only on two nights out of seven. The exact branches are mapped below, because “the Northern line runs” and “your Northern line train runs” are not the same sentence.
Night Tube and Night Overground fares are charged at off-peak rates. The Night Overground connects to the Night Tube at Canada Water for the Jubilee line and at Highbury & Islington for the Victoria line.
Which lines run
What runs, and what does not, on a Night Tube night
Friday and Saturday nights only. Proportions are schematic, not to scale.
Victoria
The whole line.
Jubilee
The whole line.
Central
No night service: North Acton to West Ruislip, Loughton to Epping, Woodford to Hainault.
Northern
Charing Cross branch only. The Bank branch does not run. This is the mistake people make most.
Piccadilly
Terminal 5, not Terminal 4. T4 sits on a loop the night service skips.
Windrush line (Overground)
Roughly every 15 minutes.
Night Tube is a Friday and Saturday night service. The lines that normally run are:
| Line | Roughly how far it goes at night |
|---|---|
| Victoria | The whole line, Brixton to Walthamstow Central |
| Jubilee | The whole line, Stanmore to Stratford |
| Central | Ealing Broadway and White City in the west, out to Loughton and Hainault in the east |
| Northern | The Charing Cross branch — not the Bank branch, and not the Mill Hill East or Battersea ends |
| Piccadilly | Cockfosters to Heathrow Terminal 5 |
There is also a Night Overground on the route between Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate — the stretch now branded the Windrush line. Same two nights.
Everything else — District, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Bakerloo, Waterloo & City, the DLR, the Elizabeth line as a full night service, and the tram — closes as normal and comes back in the morning.
Trap one: the branch you need may not be the branch that runs
This is the big one, and it is nearly always the Northern line. The Northern splits through central London into a Charing Cross branch and a Bank branch. At night, Charing Cross runs. Bank does not.
If your journey planner sent you via Bank on a Tuesday afternoon, that route simply does not exist at 3am on Saturday. The same logic applies to the Piccadilly line and Heathrow Terminal 4, which sits on a loop that the night service skips.
Trap two: “Friday night” means Saturday morning
Transport timetables and human beings disagree about when a day ends. When TfL says the Night Tube runs on Friday, it means the trains that roll through the early hours of Saturday.
So:
- Going out Friday evening, coming home at 4am Saturday? Night Tube runs.
- Going out Sunday evening, coming home at 2am Monday? It does not.
- Bank holiday Sunday, and Monday is a day off? Still does not. The service follows the calendar, not the mood.
Trap three: the gap before it starts
The Night Tube is not simply “the day service, continued”. On Friday and Saturday the normal service winds down, and then night trains begin — typically somewhere around half past midnight, varying by line and by station.
That leaves an awkward window, roughly between the last normal train and the first night one, where a station is open but nothing useful is coming. If your train is due in that gap, take a bus instead of standing on a cold platform watching the board.
Trap four: how often trains actually come
Night trains are far less frequent than day trains. Expect something in the region of every ten minutes through the middle of a line, and up to twenty minutes towards the outer ends.
That changes how you plan the last leg. A twenty-minute wait for a train that saves you a fifteen-minute walk is not a saving.
What it costs
Night Tube uses off-peak fares, and you pay exactly as you do in the day — contactless card, phone, or Oyster. There is no night surcharge on the Tube itself.
The subtlety is daily capping. A journey started in the small hours is generally counted against the previous day’s cap rather than starting a fresh one, which is usually in your favour. Do not build a plan around the exact cut-off; check the current fares page if a few pounds matters to you.
When the Night Tube is not the answer
Do not force it. The Night Tube is excellent along its corridors and useless off them. Two better options exist:
- Night buses. Far larger network, running every night of the week, not just weekends. Slower, cheaper, and they go where the Tube does not. See our guide to getting home after the last train.
- Walking. Central London is smaller than the Tube map suggests. Neighbouring stations are often ten minutes apart on foot.
Quick answers
Does the Windrush line run all night? Yes, on Friday and Saturday nights, between Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate. TfL lists it with the Night Tube lines: “Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines.” Its other branches, to Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon, do not run all night.
Does the Elizabeth line run all night? No. It is not on TfL’s Night Tube list, so it closes overnight like the District or Bakerloo lines, every night of the week.
What time does the last Tube leave? It depends on the station and the night. Type yours into last Tube times tonight, which reads TfL’s own timetables.
Is the London Underground 24 hours? No. Even on Friday and Saturday nights only the five Tube lines above and the Windrush line run through the night. From Sunday to Thursday nothing on the Underground runs all night.
Is the Tube safe at night? TfL says all stations “will continue to be staffed by London Underground employees while train services are running”. To report something, text the British Transport Police on 61016; in an emergency call 999. More in getting home safely at night.
The short version
Five lines, one Overground route, two nights a week, Charing Cross not Bank, Terminal 5 not Terminal 4, and check the status page before you commit. On every other night of the week, the answer is a bus.