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September 21

Longest underground subway system

What is the longest subway system, only counting parts that are below ground? Alternatively, which system has the most stations below ground? I was browsing the pages of some of the bigger subway systems (London, Tokyo, NYC, Shanghai...), but they mostly only include statistics for entire networks, including parts where trains venture above ground. 93.136.47.179 (talk) 03:38, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The only systems who's total stations exceeds New York's underground stations are Madrid, Paris, Beijing and Shanghai. So for stations it's probably one of those 5 but the list may be inaccurate and by a historical accident what other cities count as 1 station can be counted as more than 1 (New York's system was mostly built by several companies and only when the private ones got insolvent from the competing and agreed to be bought by the city were walkways built between close stations (many at the same exact intersection)). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 06:06, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I've counted, and the winner is... (drum roll, please...) New York! 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:EDA1:6DA2:2F4C:8E0A (talk) 08:03, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Even Madrid doesn't beat New York? It's article says it's 96% underground. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 08:10, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and it also says there are 231 total stations while the New York article says 283 underground stations. However, I don't know if they're being counted on the same basis (for example, I understand that interchange stations are generally counted as one station in London but as multiple stations in New York). --69.159.60.147 (talk) 08:37, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

List of metro systems says Madrid has 301 total stations. New York has added a few underground stations recently (as recently as January) maybe Madrid has too? Also New York has stations in trenches that are open to the sky and different sources might count this as underground or not underground. Maybe some of those open cut stations even partly stick out above grade? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 08:42, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The 96% figure you quoted is based on the 231 stations in the Madrid Metro proper -- the 301 figure is the total number of stations including the light metro, which is almost all aboveground. Also, the stations in trenches are counted separately from the underground ones, so there should be no confusion. 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:EDA1:6DA2:2F4C:8E0A (talk) 10:28, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks guys! What about underground route length? 93.136.47.179 (talk) 16:36, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

See Northern line#Tunnels. 81.155.220.132 (talk) 12:03, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]