Underground Railway
| Location: | London |
| Open: | All year daily [2007] |
| Fee: | we recommend day tickets [2007] |
| Classification: |
Underground Railway
|
| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: | London Underground, |
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/07/01 20:23:40 $ |
| 10-JAN-1863 | public service of the Metropolitan Railway started. | |
| 1870 | Tower Subway opened. | |
| 1884 | inner circle completed. | |
| 2015 | scheduled completion of the upgrade of the four major lines. |
The London Underground is the first public underground transport system of the world. It was created with the first line, between Paddington and Farringdon, in 1863. It was a sort of inner city, partially underground, broad-gauge railroad. But there were many difficulties in operating steam locomotives in a tunnel. Nevertheless the costruction was continued and by 1884 the inner circle, todays Circle Line, was completed.
The main technical difficulty of building railroads in a city were the lack of space, which was solved by building underground. The next problem was the stability of the tunnels, but new developments in deep-level tunnel design allowed stable tunnels to be constructed deep underground using tunnelling shields. The world's first underground tube railway was opened in 1870, the Tower Subway beneath the River Thames south of Tower Hill.
At this time the technology to build tunnels was still restricted, and the most stable tunnels were circular. The trains were built to fit this tube-like tunnels, and soon the underground was called The Tube by the public.
Today the London Underground is an all electric railway system that covers much of the conurbation of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. A dozen lines covere an area inhabited by almost 6 Million people. They also connect the city with Heathrow Airport.
The biggest upgrade since 1863 is going to take place during the next decade. All trains on the four major lines will be replaced by new air-conditioned cars until 2015.
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