London Underground

The London Underground is a system of electric trains in London, UK. It is the oldest underground railway in the world. It started running in 1863 as the Metropolitan Railway. After the opening the system was copied in many other cities, for example New York and Madrid. Even though it is called the Underground about half of it is above the ground. The "Tube" is a slang name for the London Underground, because the tunnels for some of the lines are round tubes running through the ground. The Underground serves 270 stations and over 408 km of track. From 2006 to 2007 over 1 billion passengers used the underground.

London Underground
Info
Locale	Greater London, Chiltern, Epping Forest, Three Rivers and Watford
Transit type	Rapid transit
Number of lines	11
Number of stations	270 served (260 owned)
Daily ridership	about 3.23 million
Website	www.tfl.gov.uk/tube
Operation
Began operation	10 January 1863
Operator(s)	London Underground Ltd; part of Transport for London (TfL)
Technical
System length	402 kilometres (250 mi)
Track gauge

Underground train systems in other cities may be called metros (like the Tyne and Wear Metro in North East England) or subways (Glasgow Subway in Scotland and in most of North America). Subway is also used across Britain to refer to underground walkways.

History

The nickname "the Tube" comes from the round tunnels some trains use. The 'tube train' shown leaving Fulham Broadway tube station, London in 2005.

Beginnings

The Metropolitan Line was the first part of the Underground to be made. It was opened in 1863. It then ran between Paddington and Farringdon. It took 40,000 passengers per day. Later it was made longer. The District Line was built by a different company. In 1884, the Circle Line was finished. All these lines used steam engines at first.

In 1890, a line using electric trains was opened. It was much deeper below ground than the other lines. Now it is part of the Northern Line. More lines like this were opened. People liked them, so in 1905 the lines that used steam engines were changed to use electric trains.

Into the 20th century

Because the different lines were run by different companies, changing lines was difficult. Between 1900 and 1902, Charles Yerkes bought most of the companies and formed a company named Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd, short UERL.

In the 1930s and 1940s

In 1933, a company was formed of all the bus, tram and underground companies, called London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). It planned to make the network longer, but the Second World War stopped this. In the war, some Underground stations were used as shelters against bombs.

After the war

After the war more passengers used the underground. Minor changes were made: Victoria Line was opened in the 1960s, and currently the Piccadilly Line was extended to Heathrow Airport in 1977. The Jubilee Line was opened in 1979, and extended to Stratford 20 years later. Night Tube was introduced in 2016.

Network

Zone 1 (central zone) of the Underground network as it would look in reality

Trains

The system uses two kinds of trains, a big type - called sub surface trains and a smaller type - deep level trains. The big ones are used for the rectangular tunnels (District Line, Metropolitan Line, Circle Line), the small ones for the round tunnels. Most lines have different trains, although they fit into one of the two categories.

Stations

The Underground's trains usually drive to 270 stations. 14 Stations are outside of London.

Lines

Name	Map colour	First operated	Type	Length	No. Sta	Current Stock	Trips per annum (×1000)	Avg. trips per mile (×1000)
Bakerloo line	Brown	1906	Deep Tube	23.2 km 14.5 mi	25	1972 Stock	111,136	7,665
Central line	Red	1900	Deep Tube	74.0 km 46.0 mi	49	1992 Stock	260,916	5,672
Circle line	Yellow	1871	Sub surface	27.2 km 17.0 mi	36	S Stock	114,609	4,716
District line	Green	1868	Sub surface	64.0 km 40.0 mi	60	S Stock	208,317	5,208
Hammersmith & City line	Pink	1864	Sub surface	25.5 km 15.9 mi	29	S Stock	114,609	4,716
Jubilee line	Silver	1979	Deep Tube	36.2 km 22.5 mi	27	1996 Stock	213,554	9,491
Metropolitan line	Dark Magenta	1863	Sub surface	66.7 km 41.5 mi	34	S Stock	66,779	1,609
Northern line	Black	1890	Deep Tube	58.0 km 36.0 mi	50	1995 Stock	252,310	7,009
Piccadilly line	Dark Blue	1906	Deep Tube	71.0 km 44.3 mi	53	1973 Stock	210,169	4,744
Victoria line	Light Blue	1968	Deep Tube	21.0 km 13.3 mi	16	2009 Stock	199,988	15,093
Waterloo & City line	Turquoise	1898	Deep Tube	2.5 km 1.5 mi	2	1992 Stock	15,892	10,595

Tickets

The Underground uses zones to collect fares. There are 9 zones. Zone 1 is the most central zone. The only London Underground stations in Zones 7 to 9 are on the Metropolitan line beyond Moor Park, outside Greater London. Some stations are in two zones, and the cheapest fare applies.

Paper tickets or the contactless Oyster card can be used for travel. The Oyster Card is a plastic card which stores credit (money and Travelcards) which the owner uses to pay for Underground travel. The user must "charge" (put money onto) their card at a ticket machine. They then touch the card on a yellow reader to pay for their journey. Since its introduction in 2002 it has become very popular with regular travelers, as the prices are much cheaper if you use an Oyster card.

There are ticket offices, some open only in the rush-hour, and ticket machines, which can be used at any time. Some machines take coins only, other touch-screen machines take coins and English notes, and usually give change. These machines also take credit and debit cards: some newer machines accept cards only.

Summary of ticket types

The following tickets are available from London Underground and TfL ticket offices to use on the Underground:

Ticket	Paper	Oyster	Off peak version	Notes
Single	Yes	Yes	Yes (on Oyster)	Paper tickets are more expensive.
Day Travelcard	Yes	No	Yes	The maximum daily spend on Oyster is capped at 50p below the Travelcard price.
3-day Travelcard	Yes	No	Yes
Weekly Travelcard	No	Yes	No
Monthly Travelcard	No	Yes	No	Requires registration.
Annual Travelcard	No	Yes	No	Requires registration.

Station access

Escalators at Bank station on the Northern Line.

When most of the stations in the London Underground system were built, disabled and wheelchair access was not considered. While many above-ground stations have only a few steps to the platform, nearly all Underground stations have some of the systems's 410 escalators and 112 lifts (elevators). Newer stations include disabled access, and many older stations install disabled access when they are refurbished or rebuilt. Since 2004, maps inside the trains show which stations have step-free access from street level. Transport for London plan to have a network of over 100 fully accessible stations by 2020, which means that 75% of Tube journeys can be made with step-free access.

The escalators in the London Underground system are some of the longest in Europe. They run 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and are used by 13,000 people per hour, with 95% of them running at one time.

Accidents

Platform Screen Doors at Westminster Station.

There have been relatively few accidents in the Underground's history. Most happen if people accidentally fall onto the tracks. In some stations there are pits in the middle of the track to stop people being injured if they fall onto the track. Newly rebuilt parts of the system, especially on the Jubilee line, have platform doors. These doors only open when a train stops and prevent people falling or jumping onto the tracks.

Platform doors

The below-ground Jubilee Line extension (Westminster to North Greenwich) stations have sliding platform doors installed to prevent people falling off the platform onto the tracks, and discourage/prevent suicides.

Bomb attacks

In the 1930s, 1970s and 1990s, the Underground was bombed many times by the IRA, and for this reason there have been no wastebins in or around stations until very recently, when clear plastic sacks were introduced in some parts of the system. On 7 July 2005, there were three attacks by radical Islamic terrorists on two Circle Line trains and on one Piccadilly Line.

Smoking

Smoking is not allowed in any part of the underground. It was banned after a fire in King's Cross Station in 1987.

Criticism

The commuters of London often complain about the Underground. Even newspapers, especially the Evening Standard, often criticise the system.

Usually the complaints are about delays, overcrowding and the fares. Sometimes strikes of London Underground staff occur.

Fares

London Underground fares are now the most expensive of any rail system around the world, including the luxurious Orient Express, and they continue to rise at very high levels. Concern has also been raised over the huge difference between oyster card fares and cash fares, with the criticism that the high cash fares will discourage tourists and day visitors to London from traveling around the city.

Delays

Because the underground is a very old system, engineering work is often needed and often causes delays. There can be other reasons as well, for example signal failures or other breakdowns. Customers can claim a refund if their tube journey is delayed for more than 15 minutes due to problems within the control of Transport For London.

Overcrowding

Because many more commuters use the underground than planned, overcrowding often happens. This can cause stress and frustration with the underground system among commuters. According to a report by MPs, commuters face "a daily trauma" and are often forced to travel in "intolerable conditions".

Industrial action

Because so many passengers travel on the London Underground network every day, strikes or industrial actions on the Underground network have a very high impact on London's traffic and can impact on London's economy. London Underground and the rail unions claim to be under high pressure from the working public, private businesses and government departments.

Strike actions on the London Underground occur for a number of reasons, including health and safety, working conditions and pay levels. There were several such strikes in the late 1970s.

London Underground Media

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  The Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 using GWR broad-gauge locomotives.

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  Passengers wait to board a tube train in 1906.

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  Aldwych Underground station being used as a bomb shelter in 1940

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  A 1959 Stock train at Barons Court

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  Platform edge doors at Westminster

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  A map of the entire system with accurate positions of stations but simplified presentation of lines

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  A sub-surface Metropolitan line A Stock train (left) passes a deep-tube Piccadilly line 1973 Stock train (right) in the siding at Rayners Lane.

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  Proposed route, safeguarded by TfL in 2021

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  The new Shepherd's Bush station, part of a Central line improvement

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  Escalators at Canary Wharf station

Other websites

• Transport for London Home page Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
  • Tube and DLR maps Archived 2007-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
  • Facts and figures Archived 2011-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
  • Tourist information
• British Transport Police
• London Transport Museum