Underground

This article is about the British underground transport system. For the comedic song, see London Underground (song). more...

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Underground

The London Underground is an all-electric metro railway system that covers much of the conurbation of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. It is the world's oldest underground system, and is the largest in terms of route length. Service began on 10 January 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway; most of that initial route is now part of the Hammersmith & City Line. Despite its name, about 55% of the network is above ground. Popular local names include the Underground and, more colloquially, the Tube, in reference to the cylindrical shape of the system's deep-bore tunnels.

The Underground currently serves 274 stations and runs over 408 km (253 miles) of lines. There are also a number of former stations and tunnels that are now closed. In 2004–2005, total passenger journeys reached a record level of 976 million, an average of 2.67 million per day.

Since 2003, the Underground has been part of Transport for London (TfL), which also administers Greater London's buses, including the famous red double-deckers, and carries out numerous other transport-related functions in the region; as London Underground Limited it was previously a subsidiary of London Regional Transport, a statutory corporation.

History

Beginnings

The Metropolitan Railway, the first section of the London Underground, initially ran between Paddington (Bishop's Bridge), now just Paddington, and Farringdon Street, a temporary station just north-west of the present Farringdon station, and was the world's first urban underground passenger-carrying railway. Following delays for financial and other reasons after the railway was authorised in 1854, public traffic began on 10 January 1863. 40,000 passengers were carried that day, with trains running every ten minutes; by 1880 the expanded 'Met' was carrying 40 million passengers a year. Other lines swiftly followed, and by 1884 the Inner Circle (today's Circle Line) was complete.

These early lines used steam-hauled trains, which required effective ventilation to the surface. An interesting example of this can be seen at 23-24, Leinster Gardens, W2. These houses were demolished for the construction of the then District Line between Paddington and Bayswater. However, to 'keep up appearances' in what still is a well-to-do street, a 5-foot thick concrete facade was constructed to resemble a genuine house frontage.

Advances in electric traction later allowed tunnels to be deeper underground than the original cut-and-cover method allowed, and deep-level tunnel design improved, including the use of tunnelling shields. The City & South London Railway (now part of the Northern Line), the first "deep-level" line and electrically operated, opened in 1890.

Read more at Wikipedia.org