London Underground From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia See also: London Overground The London Underground (often shortened to the Underground ) is a rapid transit system in the London Underground United Kingdom, serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. It incorporates the oldest section of underground railway in the world, which opened in 1863 and now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines; [3] and the first line to operate electric trains, in 1890, now part of the Northern line.[4] The oldest sections of the London Underground completed 150 years of operations on 9 January 2013. [5] The Underground system is also colloquially known as the Tube . As commonly used today both by Londoners and in most official publicity, this term embraces the entire system. [6] It originally applied only to the deep-level lines with trains of a smaller and more circular cross-section, and served to distinguish them from the sub-surface "cut-and-cover" lines that were built first and originally used steam locomotives. The earlier lines of the present London Underground network were built by various private companies. They became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) or London Transport was created. The underground network became a separate entity in 1985, when the UK Government created London Underground Limited (LUL). [7] Since 2003 LUL has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, which is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London.[8] The Underground serves 270 stations and has 402 kilometres (250 mi) of track, 45 per cent of which A Central line train at Lancaster Gate is underground. [9] It is the third largest metro system in the world in terms of route miles, after the Background [10] Beijing Subway and the Shanghai Metro and part of the largest system in terms of route miles Locale Greater London, Chiltern, Epping [citation needed ][11] when taken together with the Docklands Light Railway. It also has one of the Forest, Three Rivers and Watford [12] largest numbers of stations. In 2007, more than one billion passenger journeys were recorded, Transit type Rapid transit and in the year 2011/12 passenger numbers were just under 1.2 billion making it the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris. The tube is an international icon for London, with Number of 11 the tube map, considered a design classic, having influenced many other transport maps worldwide. lines As part of the extended TfL rail network and per the standard tube map, the London Underground is Number of 270 served (260 owned) usually considered to incorporate the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, and stations the Emirates Air Line. Daily 3.23 million (approximate) [1] Currently, 86% of operational expenditure on the London Underground is covered by passenger ridership 3.66 million (weekdays) [2] fares. [13] Almost all London Underground trains currently lack air-conditioning, which leads to the (approximate) network getting very hot in the summer, although plans are under way to mitigate this problem with Website www.tfl.gov.uk/tube [14] new air-conditioned trains and other schemes. Because of engineering work being carried out (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube) [15] under the 2010–2012 upgrade plan, lines were regularly closed during weekends. In June 2012, Operation it was announced that stations along the network would get Wifi coverage.[16] Began 10 January 1863 operation Operator(s) London Underground Ltd; part of Contents Transport for London (TfL) 1 History Technical 1.1 The first underground railways System length 402 kilometres (250 mi) 1.2 First tube lines Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄ in) Standard 1.3 Integration 2 gauge 1.4 London Transport 1.5 Nationalisation Electrification 630 V DC Fourth rail 1.6 GLC control System map 1.7 London Regional Transport 1.8 Public–private partnership 2 Transport for London 3 Infrastructure 3.1 Stations and lines 3.2 Rolling stock and electrification 3.3 Planned improvements and expansions 3.3.1 Signalling and infrastructure 3.3.2 Ventilation 3.3.3 Crossrail 3.3.4 Line extensions 4 Travelling 4.1 Ticketing 4.1.1 Penalty fares and fare evasion 4.2 Hours of operation 4.3 Accessibility 4.3.1 Escalators 4.4 Delays and overcrowding 4.5 Safety 4.6 Wi-Fi 5 Design and the arts 5.1 Map 5.2 Typography 5.3 Roundel 5.4 Contribution to arts 5.5 In popular culture 5.5.1 The Tube 6 Notable people 7 Selected facts 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 External links History Main article: History of the London Underground Railway construction in the United Kingdom began in the early 19th century, and six railway terminals had been built just outside the centre of London by 1854: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King's Cross, Bishopsgate and Waterloo.[17] At this point, only Fenchurch Street station was located in the actual City of London. Traffic congestion in the city and the surrounding areas had increased significantly in this period, partly due to the need for rail travellers to complete their journeys into the city centre by road. The idea of building an underground railway to link the City of London with the mainline terminals had first been proposed in the 1830s, but it was not until the 1850s that the idea was taken seriously as a solution to traffic congestion.[17] The first underground railways In 1855 an Act of Parliament was passed approving the construction of an underground railway between Paddington Station and Farringdon Street via King's Cross which was to be called the Metropolitan Railway. The Great Western Railway (GWR) gave financial backing to the project when it was agreed that a junction would be built linking the underground railway with its mainline terminus at Paddington. The GWR also agreed to design special trains for the new subterranean railway. A shortage of funds delayed construction for several years. It was largely due to the lobbying of Charles Pearson, who was Solicitor to the City of London Corporation at the time, that this project got under way at all. Pearson had supported the idea of an underground railway in London for several years. He advocated the demolition of the unhygienic slums which would be replaced by new accommodation in the suburbs; the new railway would provide transport to their places of work in the city centre. Although he was never directly involved in the running of the Metropolitan Railway, he is widely regarded as one of the earliest visionaries behind the concept of underground railways. And in 1859 it was Pearson who persuaded the City of London Corporation to help fund the scheme. Work finally began in February 1860, under the guidance of chief engineer John Fowler. Pearson died before the work was completed. Construction of the Metropolitan Railway near King's Cross station, The Metropolitan Railway opened on 9 January 1863 [7] (the general public admitted next day), and was carrying 1861 over 26,000 passengers a day within a few months of opening. [18] The Hammersmith and City Railway was opened on 13 June 1864 between Hammersmith and Paddington. Services were initially operated by GWR between Hammersmith and Farringdon Street. By April 1865 the Metropolitan had taken over the service. On 23 December 1865 the Metropolitan's eastern extension to Moorgate Street opened. Later in the decade other branches were opened to Swiss Cottage, South Kensington and Addison Road, Kensington (now known as Kensington Olympia). The railway was initially dual gauge, allowing the use of the GWR's broad-gauge rolling stock as well as the more widely used standard-gauge stock. Disagreements with GWR forced the Metropolitan to switch to standard gauge in 1863 after the GWR withdrew all its stock from the railway. These differences were later patched up. Broad-gauge trains ceased to run on the Metropolitan in March 1869. On 24 December 1868, the Metropolitan District Railway began operating between South Kensington and Westminster using Metropolitan Railway trains and carriages. The company, which soon became known as "the District", was first incorporated in 1864 to complete an Inner Circle railway around London in conjunction with the Metropolitan. This was part of a plan to build both an Inner Circle line and Outer Circle line. A fierce rivalry soon developed between the District and the Metropolitan. This severely delayed the completion of the Inner Circle as the two companies competed to build more lucrative railways in the suburbs. The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) began running its Outer Circle service from Broad Street via Willesden Junction, Addison Road and Earl's Court to Mansion House in 1872. The Inner Circle was not completed until 1884, with the Metropolitan and the District jointly running services. In the meantime, the District had finished its route between West Brompton and Blackfriars in 1870, with an interchange with the Metropolitan at South Kensington. In 1877, it began running its own trains from Hammersmith to Richmond, on a line originally opened by the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1869. The District then opened a new line from Turnham Green to Ealing in 1879 [19] and extended its West Brompton branch to Fulham in 1880. Over the same decade the Metropolitan was extended to Harrow-on-the-Hill station in the north-west. The early tunnels were dug mainly using the cut-and-cover method.