The
London Underground is a metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of
Buckinghamshire,
Essex and
Hertfordshire in the
UK.
The Underground is both the world's oldest underground railway and the oldest rapid transit system. It was also the first underground railway to operate electric trains. Do you know that though it’s called the Underground, 55% of the network is above ground?
The underground network became a single entity when London Underground Limited (LUL) was formed 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.
The Underground has
268 stations and approximately
400 km (250 miles) of track, making it the longest metro system in the world by route length, and one of the most served in terms of stations. In 2008, over one billion passenger journeys were recorded.
The first underground railwaysIn the 19th century, digging deep level tunnels, especially under water was a dangerous and tricky business. Several attempts to cross the Thames had ended in failure, even with lives being lost.
Brunell's Thames Tunnel (used today by the East London Line) was the first successful tunnel under the Thames but its construction was costly and very difficult.
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. The Metropolitan Railway opened on 10 January 1863.
The Circle and District Line platforms at Embankment station
The first tube linesThe first underground railways, excluding the
ELR (a consortium of six railway companies:
the Great Eastern Railway (GER);
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR);
London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR);
South Eastern Railway (SER);
Metropolitan Railway; and the
Metropolitan District Railway), had been just 10 feet deep. Following advances in the use of tunnelling shields, electric traction and deep-level tunnel designs, later railways were built even further underground. This caused much less disruption at ground level and it was therefore cheaper and preferable to the cut-and-cover construction method.
The
City & South London Railway (C&SLR, now part of the Northern Line) opened in 1890, between
Stockwell and the now closed original terminus at
King William Street. 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.
To establish when all the other Tube lines were opened, Click on the LINK below;
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.
The Underground serves 268 stations by rail; an additional six stations that were on the East London line are served by Underground replacement buses.
Integration & London TransportIn 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 secured the right to build the
Charing Cross,
Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) on 1 October 1900.
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 known as
"London Transport" (LT).
Shortly after it was created, LT began the process of integrating the underground railways of London into one network. All the separate railways were given new names in order to become lines within it. A
free map of these lines, designed by
Harry Beck, was issued in 1933. It featured the
District Line, the
Bakerloo Line, the Piccadilly Line, the Edgware, Highgate and Morden Line, the Metropolitan Line, the Great Northern & City Line, the East London Line and the Central London Line. Commonly regarded as a
design classic, an updated version of this map is still in use today.
The
Waterloo & City line was not included in this map as it was still owned by a main line railway
(the Southern Railway since 1923) and not
LT.
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.
The outbreak of
World War II delayed all the expansion schemes. From mid-1940, the Blitz led to the use of many Underground stations as shelters during air raids and overnight. The authorities initially tried to discourage and prevent this, but later supplied
bunks,
latrines, and
catering facilities. Later in the war, eight London deep-level shelters were constructed under stations, ostensibly to be used as shelters (each deep-level shelter could hold 8,000 people) though plans were in place to convert them for a new express line parallel to the Northern line after the war.
Some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into
government offices: for example,
Down Street was used for the
headquarters of the Railway Executive Committee and was also used for meetings of the
War Cabinet before the
Cabinet War Rooms were completed;
Brompton Road was used as a control room for
anti-aircraft guns and the remains of the surface building are still used by
London's University Royal Naval Unit (URNU) and
University London Air Squadron (ULAS).
After the war one of the last acts of the LPTB was to give the go-ahead for the completion of the postponed
Central Line extensions. The western extension to
West Ruislip was completed in 1948, and the eastern extension to
Epping in 1949; the single-line branch from
Epping to
Ongar was taken over and electrified in 1957.
NationalisationOn 1 January 1948
London Transport was nationalised by the incumbent
Labour government, together with the four remaining main line railway companies, and incorporated into the operations of the
British Transport Commission (BTC). The LPTB was replaced by the
London Transport Executive (LTE). This brought the Underground under the remit of
central government for the first time in its history.
The implementation of nationalised railways was a move of
necessity as well as
ideology. The main line railways had struggled to cope with a war economy in the
First World War and by the end of
World War Two the
four remaining companies were on the verge of bankruptcy. Nationalisation was the easiest way to save the railways in the short term and provide money to fix war time damage.
GLC ControlOn 1 January 1970, the
Greater London Council (GLC) took over responsibility for
London Transport. This period is perhaps the most controversial in London's transport history, charactedised by staff shortages and a severe lack of funding from
central government. In 1980 the
Labour-led GLC began the
'Fares Fair' project, which increased local taxation in order to lower ticket prices.
The campaign was initially successful and usage of the Tube significantly increased. But serious objections to the policy came from the
London Borough of Bromley, an area of London which has no Underground stations. The Council resented the subsidy as it would not benefit their residents. The borough council took the GLC to the Law Lords who ruled that the policy was illegal based on their interpretation of the
Transport (London) Act 1969. They ruled that the Act stipulated that London Transport must plan, as far as was possible, to break even. In line with this judgement,
'Fare's Fare' was therefore reversed, leading to a 100% increase in fares in 1982 and a subsequent decline in passenger numbers.
The scandal prompted
Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government to remove the Underground from the GLC's control in 1984, a development that turned out to be a prelude to the abolition of the GLC in 1986. Thus, replacing it with
London Regional Transport (LRT) on 19 June 1984 - a statutory corporation for which the Secretary of State for Transport was directly responsible. The Government planned to modernise the system while slashing its subsidy from taxpayers and ratepayers. As part of this strategy
London Underground Limited was set up on 1 April 1985 as a wholly owned subsidiary of LRT to run the network.
Two Underground Train Sizes: Larger subsurface trains and Smaller tube trains
Public Private PartnershipTransport 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, 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 since taken over
Metronet's outstanding commitments.
The UK government has made concerted efforts to find another private firm to fill the vacuum left by the liquidation of Metronet.
Tube Roundel Used By the Tfl
However so far only
TfL has expressed a plausible interest in taking over
Metronet's responsibilities. Even though Tube Lines appears to be stable, this has put the long-term future of the PPP scheme in doubt. The case for PPP was also weakened in 2008 when it was revealed that the demise of
Metronet had cost the UK government £2 billion. The five private companies that made up the Metronet alliance had to pay £70m each towards paying off the debts acquired by the consortium. But under a deal struck with the government in 2003, when the PPP scheme began operating, the companies were protected from any further liability. The UK taxpayer therefore had to foot the rest of the bill. This undermined the argument that the PPP would place the risks involved in running the network into the hands of the private sector
Transport for London
Example of Roundels the Underground usesTransport 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 Co. Ltd. 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. The current Commissioner is
Peter Hendy.
The Mayor is responsible for producing an integrated transport strategy for London and for consulting the
GLA,
TfL,
local councils and
others on the strategy. The Mayor is also responsible for setting
TfL's budget. The
GLA is consulted on the Mayor's transport strategy, and inspects and approves the Mayor's budget. It is able to summon the Mayor and senior staff to account for
TfL's performance.
London TravelWatch, a body appointed by and reporting to the Assembly, deals with complaints about transport in London.
Sample of Train Tickets used on the Underground:
Oyster Card
Travel Ticket/PassSource:
Wikipedia
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