London Underground – London, United Kingdom

The London Underground is a metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in England. It is the world’s oldest underground railway system. Services began on 10 January 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway. Despite its name, about 55% of the network is above ground. It is commonly called the Underground and the Tube from the shape of the system’s deep-bore tunnels.

The Underground has 268 stations and approximately 400 km (250 miles) of track, making it the longest underground railway in the world by route length, and one of the most served in terms of stations. In 2007, over one billion passenger journeys were recorded.

The earlier lines of the present London Underground system, built by various companies, became part of an integrated passenger transport system (which excluded the main line railways) in 1933 under the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The underground network became a separate entity when London Underground Limited (LUL) was set up by the UK government in 1985. 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.

History

Railway construction in the United Kingdom began in the early 19th century. By 1850 six separate railway termini had been built just outside the centre of London: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King’s Cross, Bishopsgate, Waterloo. Only Fenchurch Street station was located in the City of London itself. Traffic congestion in London had increased in this period, partly due to the need for rail travellers to complete their journeys into the city centre by road. An underground railway to link the City of London with the mainline termini was first proposed in the 1830s, but it was not until the 1850s that the idea was taken seriously as a solution to the traffic congestion problems.

The first underground railways

In 1854 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. This was to be built with the support of the Great Western Railway, who helped fund the project on the grounds that a junction would be built with their mainline terminus at Paddington. However construction did not begin until February 1860 due to financial problems. The fact that this project got underway at all was largely due to the lobbying of Charles Pearson, who was Solicitor to the City of London at the time. In 1859 he finally persuaded the City of London Corporation to help fund the scheme.

On December 24, 1868, the Metropolitan District Railway began operating services 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 around London.

On December 7, 1869 the East London Railway started operating services between Wapping and New Cross Gate (then known as New Cross) using the Thames Tunnel designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This had originally opened in 1843 as a pedestrian tunnel, but it was purchased by the East London Railway in 1865 and it was converted into a railway tunnel.

By the end of the 1880s, underground railway services reached Chesham on the Metropolitan, Hounslow and Wimbledon on the District and Shoreditch and New Cross on the East London Railway. By the end of the 19th century, the Metropolitan had extended its lines far outside of London to Aylesbury, Verney Junction and Brill, creating new suburbs along the route. Right up until the 1930s the company pursued ambitions to maintain the railway as a main-line operation rather than a rapid transit service.

The first tube lines

Following advances in the use of tunnelling shields, electric traction and deep-level tunnel designs, later railways were built further underground. This caused far less disruption at ground level than the cut-and-cover construction method. It was therefore cheaper and preferable.

The City & South London Railway (C&SLR, now part of the Northern Line) opened in 1890, between Stockwell and King William Street (Now Bank and Monument). It was the first “deep-level” electrically operated railway in the world. By 1900 it had been extended at both ends, to Clapham Common in the south and Moorgate Street (via a diversion) in the north. The second such railway, the Waterloo and City Railway, opened in 1898. It was built and run by the London and South Western Railway and subsequently it was not incorporated into the Underground when the rival companies began to integrate their services in the 1900s.

On July 30, 1900 the Central London Railway (now known as the Central Line) was opened, operating services from Bank to Shepherd’s Bush. It was nicknamed the “Twopenny Tube” for its flat fare and cylindrical tunnels; the “tube” nickname was eventually transferred to the Underground system as a whole. An interchange with the C&SLR was provided at Bank. Construction had also begun in August 1898 on another line, the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway. However work on this railway came to a halt eighteen months after it began when funds ran out.

Into the 20th century

In the early 20th century, the presence of six independent operators running different Underground lines caused passengers substantial inconvenience; in many places passengers had to walk some distance above ground to change between lines. The costs associated with running such a system were also heavy, and as a result many companies looked to financiers who could give them the money they needed to expand into the lucrative suburbs as well as electrify the earlier steam operated lines. The most prominent of these was Charles Yerkes, an American tycoon who during 1900 and 1902 acquired the District and the as yet unbuilt Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (later to become part of the Northern Line). Yerkes also acquired the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway (jointly to become the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway, the core of the modern Piccadilly Line) and the moribund Baker Street & Waterloo Railway to form Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd (UERL) on April 9, 1902. That company also owned three tramway companies and went on to buy the London General Omnibus Company, creating an organisation colloquially known as “the Combine”.

Before those schemes were implemented the independent Great Northern & City Railway opened in 1904 between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. It was the only tube line of sufficient diameter to be capable of handling main-line sized stock, but remained separate from the main line network. It was bought out by the Metropolitan in 1913. By 1904 the District had opened its South Harrow branch and the MetR opened its Uxbridge branch. In 1905 most of the lines of the Metropolitan and District were finally electrified. District railway trains eventually reached Uxbridge when the link to the Metropolitan at Rayners Lane was completed in 1910. The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opened in 1906, soon rebadging itself the Bakerloo, and by 1907 had been extended to Edgware Road in the north and Elephant & Castle in the south. The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton also opened in 1907 between Finsbury Park and Hammersmith; the single station branch to Strand (later Aldwych) opened in 1907. The Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) opened in 1907 from Charing Cross to Camden Town, with two northward branches, one to Golders Green, one to Highgate (now Archway).

The 1910s and 1920s

On 1 January 1913 the UERL absorbed two other independent tube lines, the City & South London Railway (now part of the Northern line) and the Central London Railway. As the monopoly of the Combine asserted itself, only the Metropolitan Railway stayed away from this process of integration, retaining pretensions of being considered to be a main-line railway. Proposals were put forward for a merger between the two companies in 1913 but the plan was rejected by the Metropolitan.

The Bakerloo line extension to Queen’s Park was completed in 1915, and the service extended to Watford Junction via the London and North Western Railway tracks in 1917. The extension of the Central line to Ealing Broadway was delayed by the war to 1920.

The major development of the 1920s was the integration of the CCE&HR and the C&SLR and extensions to form what was to become the Northern line. This necessitated enlargement of the older parts of the C&SLR, requiring temporary closures, during 1922-24. The Golders Green branch was extended to Edgware in 1924, and the southern end was extended to Morden in 1926. The Watford branch of the Metropolitan was opened in 1925.

The 1930s and 1940s

The Metropolitan opened its branch to Stanmore in 1932. This and the realigned Metropolitan slow lines between Finchley Road and Wembley Park were taken over in 1939 by the Bakerloo, itself extended in new deep-level tunnels from Baker Street to Finchley Road (in turn the Jubilee line took over these lines in 1979). The last major extensions applied by the Combine were to the Piccadilly line. By 1933 the Cockfosters branch was complete, and at the western end through services were running (via realigned tracks between Hammersmith and Acton Town) to Hounslow West and Uxbridge.

In 1933 the Combine, the Metropolitan and all the municipal and independent bus and tram undertakings were merged into the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), a self-supporting and unsubsidised public corporation which came into being on 1 July 1933. The LPTB soon became more widely known as “London Transport” (LT), its shortened title.

London Transport set in motion a scheme for the expansion of the network, the 1935–1940 New Works Programme. This consisted of plans to extend some lines, to take over the operation of others from the main-line railway companies, and to electrify the entire network. During the 1930s and 1940s, several sections of main-line railway were converted into (surface) lines of the Underground. The oldest part of today’s Underground network is the Central line between Leyton and Loughton, which opened as a railway seven years before the Underground itself.

Into the 21st century

Transport for London (TfL) replaced LRT in 2000, a development that coincided with the creation of a directly elected Mayor of London and the Greater London Assembly. In January 2003 the Underground began operating as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), whereby the infrastructure and rolling stock were maintained by two private companies (Metronet and Tube Lines) under 30-year contracts, whilst London Underground Limited remained publicly owned and operated by TfL.

There was much controversy over the implementation of the PPP. Supporters of the change claimed that the private sector would eliminate the inefficiencies of public sector enterprises and take on the risks associated with running the network, while opponents said that the need to make profits would reduce the investment and public service aspects of the Underground. There has since been criticism of the performance of the private companies; for example the January 2007 edition of The Londoner,[10] a newsletter published periodically by the Greater London Authority, listed Metronet’s mistakes of 2006 under the headline Metronet guilty of ‘inexcusable failures’. Metronet was placed into administration on 18 July 2007. TfL has taken over Metronet’s outstanding commitments.

Transport for London

Transport for London (TfL) was created in 2000 as the integrated body responsible for London’s transport system. It replaced London Regional Transport. It assumed control of London Underground Limited in July 2003. TfL is part of the Greater London Authority and is constituted as a statutory corporation regulated under local government finance rules. It has three subsidiaries: London Transport Insurance Guernsey Ltd, the TfL Pension Fund Trustee Company and Transport Trading Ltd (TTL). TTL has six wholly-owned subsidiaries, one of which is London Underground Limited.

The TfL Board is appointed by the Mayor of London. The Mayor also sets the structure and level of public transport fares in London. However the day-to-day running of the corporation is left to the Commissioner of Transport for London, who is currently Peter Hendy. The first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, chose to chair the TfL Board himself. His successor, Boris Johnson, has nominated Tim Parker for the task, subject to the approval of the Greater London Assembly.

Infrastructure

Stations and lines

The London Underground’s 11 lines are the Bakerloo line, Central line, Circle line, District line, Hammersmith & City line, Jubilee line, Metropolitan line, Northern line, Piccadilly line, Victoria line, and Waterloo & City line. Until 2007 there was a twelfth line, the East London line, but this has closed for conversion work and will be transferred to the London Overground when it reopens in 2010.

Rolling stock and electrification

The Underground uses rolling stock built between 1960 and 2005. Stock on subsurface lines is identified by a letter (such as A Stock, used on the Metropolitan line), while tube stock is identified by the year in which it was designed (for example, 1996 Stock, used on the Jubilee line). All lines are worked by a single type of stock except the District line, which uses both C and D Stock. Two types of stock are currently being developed 2009 Stock for the Victoria line and S stock for the subsurface lines, with the Metropolitan line A Stock being replaced first. Rollout of both is expected to begin about 2009.

Cooling

In summer, temperatures on parts of the London Underground can become very uncomfortable due to its deep and poorly ventilated tube tunnels: temperatures as high as 47 °C (117 °F) were reported in the 2006 European heat wave. Posters may be observed on the Underground network advising that passengers carry a bottle of water to help keep cool.

Planned improvements

The long proposed Chelsea-Hackney line which is planned to begin operation in 2025, may be part of the London Underground, which would mean it would give the network a new Northeast to South cross London line to provide more interchanges with other lines and relieve overcrowding on other lines. However it is still on the drawing board. It was first proposed in 1901 and has been in planning since then. In 2007 the line was passed over to Cross London Rail Ltd the current developers of Crossrail therefore the line may be either part of the London Underground network or the National Rail network. There are advantages and disadvantages for both.

Travelling

Ticketing

The Underground uses TfL’s Travelcard zones to calculate fares. Greater London is divided into 6 zones; Zone 1 is the most central, with a boundary just beyond the Circle line, and Zone 6 is the outermost and includes London Heathrow Airport. Stations on the Metropolitan line outside Greater London are in Zones 7-9. Travelcard zones 7-9 also apply on the Euston-Watford Junction line (part of the London Overground With Watford High Street being within the zones, but as of April 2008, Watford Junction is outside these zones and therefore a special fare applies.

Delays

According to statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the average commuter on the Metropolitan line wasted three days, 10 hours and 25 minutes in 2006 due to delays (not including missed connections). Between 17 September 2006 and 14 October 2006, figures show that 211 train services were delayed by more than 15 minutes. Passengers are entitled to a refund if their journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more due to circumstances within the control of TfL.

Hours of operation

The Underground does not run 24 hours a day, (except for at New Year and on major public events – such as the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 and the Opening and Closing ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012) because the majority of lines have only two tracks (one in each direction) and therefore need to close at night for planned maintenance work. First trains on the network start operating around 04:30, running until around 01:30. Unlike systems such as the New York City Subway, few parts of the Underground have express tracks that would allow trains to be routed around maintenance sites. Recently, greater use has been made of weekend closures of parts of the system for scheduled engineering work.

Accessibility

Accessibility by people with mobility issues was not considered when most of the system was built, and most older stations are inaccessible to disabled people. More recent stations were designed for accessibility, but retrofitting accessibility features to old stations is at best prohibitively expensive and technically extremely difficult, and often impossible. Even when there are already escalators or lifts, there are often steps between the lift or escalator landings and the platforms.

Overcrowding

Overcrowding on the Underground has been of concern, particularly at Camden Town station and Covent Garden, which merit access restrictions at certain times. Restrictions are introduced at other stations when necessary. Several stations have been rebuilt to deal with overcrowding issues, with Clapham Common and Clapham North on the Northern line being the last remaining stations with a single narrow platform with tracks on both sides. At particularly busy occasions, such as football matches, British Transport Police may be present to help with overcrowding. On 24 September 2007, King’s Cross underground station was totally closed due to “overcrowding”. According to a 2003 House of Commons report, commuters face a “daily trauma” and are forced to travel in “intolerable conditions”.

Safety

Accidents on the Underground network, which carries around a billion passengers a year, are rare. There is just one fatal accident for every 300 million journeys. There are several safety warnings given to passengers, such as the traditional ‘mind the gap’ announcement and the regular announcements for passengers to keep behind the yellow line. Relatively few accidents are caused by overcrowding on the platforms, and staff monitor platforms and passageways at busy times prevent people entering the system if they become overcrowded.

Image

TfL’s Tube map and “roundel” logo are instantly recognisable by any Londoner, almost any Briton, and many people around the world. The original maps were often street maps with the lines superimposed, and the stylised Tube map evolved from a design by electrical engineer Harry Beck in 1931. Virtually every major urban rail system in the world now has a map in a similar stylised layout and many bus companies have also adopted the concept. TfL licences the sale of clothing and other accessories featuring its graphic elements and it takes legal action against unauthorised use of its trademarks and of the Tube map. Nevertheless, unauthorised copies of the logo continue to crop up worldwide. The phrase “mind the gap,” played when trains stop at certain platforms, has also become a well known catchphrase.

The Roundel

The origins of the roundel, in earlier years known as the ‘bulls-eye’ or ‘target’, are obscure. While the first use of a roundel in a London transport context was the 19th-century symbol of the London General Omnibus Company a wheel with a bar across the centre bearing the word General its usage on the Underground stems from the decision in 1908 to find a more obvious way of highlighting station names on platforms. The red circle with blue name bar was quickly adopted, with the word “UNDERGROUND” across the bar, as an early corporate identity. The logo was modified by Edward Johnston in 1919.

Typography

Edward Johnston designed TfL’s distinctive sans-serif typeface, in 1916. “New Johnston”, modified to include lower case, is still in use. It is noted for the curl at the bottom of the minuscule l, which other sans-serif typefaces have discarded, and for the diamond-shaped tittle on the minuscule i and j, whose shape also appears in the full stop, and is the origin of other punctuation marks in the face. TfL owns the copyright to and exercises control over the New Johnston typeface, but a close approximation of the face exists in the TrueType computer font Paddington, and the Gill Sans typeface also takes inspiration from Johnston.

Contribution to arts

The Underground currently sponsors and contributes to the arts via its Platform for Art and Poems on the Underground projects. Poster and billboard space (and in the case of Gloucester Road tube station, an entire disused platform) is given over to artwork and poetry to “create an environment for positive impact and to enhance and enrich the journeys of…passengers”. Its artistic legacy includes the employment since the 1920s of many well-known graphic designers, illustrators and artists for its own publicity posters. Designers who produced work for the Underground in the 1920s and 1930s include Man Ray, Edward McKnight Kauffer and Fougasse. In recent years the Underground has commissioned work from leading artists including R. B. Kitaj, John Bellany and Howard Hodgkin.

In popular culture

The Underground has been featured in many movies and television shows, including Sliding Doors, Tube Tales and Neverwhere. The London Underground Film Office handles over 100 requests per month. The Underground has also featured in music such as The Jam’s “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight” and in literature such as the graphic novel V for Vendetta. Popular legends about the Underground being haunted persist to this day. After placing a number of spoof announcements on her web page, London Underground voice over artiste Emma Clarke had any further contracts cancelled in 2007.

Other Information

• Name: London Underground
• Locale: Greater London, Chiltern, Epping Forest, Three Rivers and Watford
• Transit type: Rapid transit
• Began operation 1863
• System length: 250 miles / 400 km (approximate)
• No. of lines: 11
• No. of stations: 268 served (250 owned)
• Daily ridership: 3 million (approximate)
• Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) (standard gauge)
• Operators: Transport for London

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