History of rapid transit - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

began with the opening in 1863 of the Metropolitan Railway

Metropolitan railway

Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...

, now part of the London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

. However, the smoke caused discomfort for passengers in operating steam trains through tunnels and limited the appeal of this mode of transport. Between 1863 to 1890 there were numerous proposals to build pneumatic or cable-hauled

Cable railway

A cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...

railways in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

to overcome this problem, but none proved successful. Smoke was less of a problem in steam-hauled elevated railways, starting with the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway

IRT Ninth Avenue Line

The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue El, was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-hauled line. It ceased operation in 1940....

in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

in 1870 (although this line opened unsuccessfully as a cable-hauled railway in 1868). The opening of London's City & South London Railway

City & South London Railway

The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...

in 1890 overcame the smoke problem by using electric traction

Railway electrification system

A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...

and led to the development of electric underground railways in Liverpool

Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

, Budapest

Budapest Metro

The Budapest Metro is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the second-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground. Its iconic Line 1, dating from 1896, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002.-Lines:The Metro consists of three lines,...

, Glasgow

Glasgow Subway

The Glasgow Subway is an underground metro line in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. Formerly a cable railway, the Subway was later electrified, but its twin circular lines...

, Boston

Green Line (MBTA)

The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...

, Paris

Paris Métro

The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...

, Berlin

Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

and New York City

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

by 1904.

First tunnels

Before any plans were made for transit systems with underground tunnels and stations, several railway operators had used tunnels for freight and passenger trains, usually to reduce the grade of the railway line. Examples include Trevithick's Tunnel from 1804, built for the Penydarren locomotive, the 1829 Crown Street Tunnel

Crown Street railway station

Crown Street Station was located on Crown Street, Liverpool, England. The station opened on 15 September 1830 as the Liverpool passenger terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first public passenger line...

at Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

and the 1.13 miles (1,811 metres) long 1836 Lime Street Tunnel also at Liverpool, of which a part is still used today making it the world's oldest used tunnel.

The first urban underground railway was the Metropolitan Railway

Metropolitan railway

Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...

, which began operations on January 10, 1863. It was built largely in shallow tunnels (see more at cut and cover) and is now part of the London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

. It was worked by steam trains, and despite the creation of numerous vents, was unhealthy and uncomfortable for passengers and operating staff. Nevertheless, its trains were popular from the start and the Metropolitan Railway and the competing Metropolitan District Railway developed the inner circle around central London (completed in 1884) and an extensive system of suburban branches to the northwest (extending into the adjoining countryside), the west, the southwest and the east (mostly completed by 1904).

Electrification

The first electrified urban railway, London's City & South London Railway

City & South London Railway

The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...

underground railway, opened in 1890, in deep tubular tunnels, leading to the term "tube", which was eventually applied to the London Underground. It was originally planned to be cable-hauled, but the bankruptcy of the company that contracted to supply the cable-haulage technology forced the railway company to consider the brand-new technology of electric traction, because its Parliamentary Act prohibited use of steam power. It operated locomotive-hauled trains with three carriages, initially without windows, because it was considered that passengers would not need to know where they were if they were in tunnels.

The UK's only elevated railway opened in 1893 in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. The Liverpool Overhead Railway

Liverpool Overhead Railway

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the world's first electrically operated overhead railway. The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking, onto which the tracks were laid. It ran close to the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, following the line of Liverpool Docks...

was the world's fourth oldest metro and was the world's first fully formed elevated railway to run electric trains from the start. The LOR pioneered Electric Multiple Units of three car trains. Automatic and electric light signals was also a first for the railway. The presence of the "El" was one aspect that earned Liverpool the nickname of "Britain's North American City". The LOR was demolished in 1957 with Liverpool today served by a partially underground urban rail network known as Merseyrail

Merseyrail

.

A major breakthrough in the development of modern electrically driven rapid transit occurred when the American inventor Frank J. Sprague

Frank J. Sprague

Frank Julian Sprague was an American naval officer and inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators...

successfully tested his system of multiple-unit train control

Multiple-unit train control

Multiple-unit train control, sometimes abbreviated to multiple-unit or MU, is a method of simultaneously controlling all the traction equipment in a train from a single location, whether it is a Multiple unit comprising a number of self-powered passenger cars or a set of locomotives.A set of...

(MUTC) on the South Side Elevated Railroad

South Side Elevated Railroad

The South Side Elevated Railroad was the first elevated rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois. The line ran from downtown Chicago to Jackson Park, with branches to Englewood, Normal Park, Kenwood, and the Union Stock Yards...

(now part of the Chicago 'L'

Chicago 'L'

The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...

) in 1897. MUTC, which allowed all the motors in an entire train to be dependably controlled from a single point, freed rapid transit systems from dependence on locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

-hauled coaches.

Asia

Asia's oldest commuter lines were constructed in India in 1853. The first suburban networks in the country were constructed in Mumbai

Mumbai Suburban Railway

The Mumbai Suburban Railway system, part of the public transport system of Mumbai, is provided for by the state-run Indian Railways' two zonal Western Railways and Central Railways. The system carries more than 6.99 million commuters on a daily basis. It has the highest passenger densities of any...

(then Bombay) and in Chennai

Chennai suburban railway

Chennai suburban railway is a commuter rail system in the Indian city of Chennai operated by the Southern Railway. Chennai has a complex railway network. The system uses electrical multiple units operating on alternating current drawn from over-head cables through the catenary system...

(then Madras).

Asia's oldest commuter heavy rail lines are in Japan, with private companies Meitetsu railways (Nagoya) opening in 1895, and Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

's Keihin Kyūkō in 1896, both still serving dense urbanized areas. Asia's first cities to have subway lines were Tokyo

Tokyo

in 1927 and Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

in 1933. Other major Japanese cities with subway systems are Yokohama, Sapporo

Sapporo, Hokkaido

is the fourth-largest city in Japan by population, and the largest city on the island of Hokkaido. It is the capital of Hokkaidō Prefecture, located in Ishikari Subprefecture, and an ordinance-designated city of Japan....

, Kobe, Kyoto, Fukuoka

Fukuoka, Fukuoka

is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...

, and Sendai

Sendai, Miyagi

is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku Region. In 2005, the city had a population of one million, and was one of Japan's 19 designated cities...

Europe

Tünel

The Tünel is a short underground railway line in Istanbul, Turkey. It is an underground funicular with two stations, connecting the quarters of Karaköy and Beyoğlu. Located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the underground railway tunnel goes uphill from close to sea level and is about 555...

, Istanbul's underground funicular, was completed in 1875. It was built to allow easier access from Galata to the new residential area of Pera. The tunnel is 555 metres long and rises by 61 metres.

Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

inaugurated its first underground line in 1896. It ran from Gizella tér (now Vörösmarty tér, the city centre) to City Park

City Park (Budapest)

Városliget is a public park in Budapest, Hungary close to the city centre. It is located in District XIV of Budapest. Its main entrance is Heroes' Square , one of Hungary's World Heritage sites.-Name:The area was formerly called Ökör-dűlő, meaning "Oxmeadow"...

and the local zoo, a distance of 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi). It is now part of the Budapest Metro

Budapest Metro

and has largely been restored to its original condition. The Budapest system was also the first electric underground railway with overhead cables rather than the more common third rail

Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

system. The 10.4 kilometres (6.5 mi) Glasgow Subway

Glasgow Subway

in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

opened the same year and used cable haulage

Cable car (railway)

A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are hauled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required...

until it was electrified in 1935.

The first line of the Paris Metro

Paris Métro

opened in 1900. Its full name was the Chemin de Fer Métropolitain, a direct translation into French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

of London's Metropolitan Railway. The name was shortened to métro, and many other languages have since borrowed this word. The Berlin U-Bahn

Berlin U-Bahn

(for underground railway) opened in 1902; because large sections of the line were elevated, it was also called Hochbahn (high railway) until the 1920s.

Although not built as a metro system, the Ferrovia Cumana

Ferrovia Cumana

The Cumana Railway is a regional railway in Campania, southern Italy, connecting Naples by two separate routes with Torregaveta, near Cuma in the town of Bacoli . It passes through Pozzuoli and the volcanic Campi Flegrei area...

, opened in 1889, and running in tunnels under the city of Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, today forms part of Napoli's subway system

Metropolitana di Napoli

Metropolitana di Napoli is the metro system serving the city of Naples, Italy. The system includes three underground rapid transit lines and commuter railways , with planned upgrading and expansion work underway...

as Line 2, making it the oldest section of a rapid transit system in Italy. The first purpose-built Italian rapid transit system was built for the 1906 Milan International Exposition. It was an elevated light rail that linked the two main areas of the fair. The line was dismantled eight years later.

In Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, the metro opened on October 17, 1919 under the direction of the Compañía de Metro Alfonso XIII. Metro stations served as air raid shelters during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. Today, Madrid's subway is one of the longest systems in the world.

The Americas

Boston has the oldest subway tunnel in the United States that is still in use, part of the Green Line

Green Line (MBTA)

downtown, dating from 1897. The original construction was a short four-track tunnel, with only two stations downtown, built to take light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

cars from outlying areas off the streets. Later subways in Boston carried full-size trains; the Green Line still operates with light rail

Light rail

equipment. In 1901, heavy rail trains began to use the tunnel as part of the original configuration of the Main Line Elevated

Orange Line (MBTA)

The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green...

, the first elevated railway in Boston.

The New York City Subway

New York City Subway

, which has become one of the world's largest, did not open its first section until 1904, but this was a fully independent four-track line, stretching 9 miles (14.5 km) from City Hall

City Hall (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

City Hall, also known as City Hall Loop, was the original southern terminal station of the first line of the New York City Subway, built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company , named the "Manhattan Main Line", and now part of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line...

to 145th Street. Extensions were soon built, reaching the Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

and Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

; this is now part of the IRT

Interborough Rapid Transit Company

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was the private operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940...

system. Two major subway systems, operated by the BMT

Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation

The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940 and today, together with the IND subway system, form the B Division of the New York City Subway...

and the IND

Independent Subway System

The Independent Subway System , formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad, was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway...

were constructed later, and many pre-existing elevated railway

Elevated railway

An elevated railway is a form of rapid transit railway with the tracks built above street level on some form of viaduct or other steel or concrete structure. The railway concerned may be constructed according to the standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or suspension railway system...

lines were incorporated into the BMT and IRT systems. The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad

Port Authority Trans-Hudson

PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...

, which also opened a subway tunnel in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

in 1908 and connected with New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, remained a separate railroad company, and later came under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...

as the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). Some New York City subway lines run on right-of-way first used in 1863 by railroads, and converted R44

R44 (New York City Subway car)

The R44 is a New York City Transit car model that debuted in 1971 and currently operates on the Staten Island Railway.-History:The R44 was the first 75-foot car for the New York City Subway. It was introduced for the B Division under the idea from New York City Transit that a train of eight cars...

subway cars run on the 1860 Staten Island Railway

Staten Island Railway

The Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, publicly known as MTA Staten Island Railway or SIR, is the operator of the lone rapid transit line in the borough of Staten Island, New York City, USA...

.

In 1907, the first line in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, now part of the Market–Frankford Line, began running on both elevated and underground structures.

The oldest subway in the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

, "Subterráneos de Buenos Aires", opened in 1913 in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, which is also the oldest one in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

and the Spanish-speaking world. The "Buenos Aires Underground", colloquially and officially known as el Subte

Buenos Aires Metro

The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...

, and particularly Line A, with its magnificently preserved "La burgeoise" wood and metal carriages, have been in continuous operation for 94 years, carry 190.000 passengers daily, and are a tourist attraction as well. This line is converted from an underground tramway.

Later expansion

Today, metro networks may be fully on surface or elevated as in Colombia, Peru, Philippines, Chile, Brazil, and China. Asia becames as continent with largest number of rapid transit systems. Antarctica is the only continent without a metro system.

Asia

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

's first subway system, Beijing subway

Beijing Subway

The Beijing Subway is a rapid transit rail network that serves the urban and suburban districts of Beijing municipality. It is owned by the city of Beijing and has two operators, the wholly state owned Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corp., which operates 12 lines, and the Beijing MTR...

, began operation in 1969 only. Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

(1984), Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

(1995), Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

(1999), Wuhan

Wuhan

Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...

(2004), Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

(2004), Nanjing

Nanjing

' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

(2005), Dalian

Dalian

Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...

(2005) and some other cities also have rapid transit systems in operation. Dozens of Chinese cities are aggressively developing or expanding their rapid transit systems, so country become a largest metro power in the world already.

In 1979, now Chinese Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

's subway line, the MTR

MTR

Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...

, began operations. It currently has nine lines, including four that run underneath Victoria Harbour

Victoria Harbour

Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent...

. By 1982, the British section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, then known as KCR East Rail

KCR East Rail

The East Rail Line is one of ten railway lines of the Mass Transit Railway system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon-Canton Railway network...

, started to provide metro-like service upon electrification was completed. 2007 saw the merger of KCR into the MTR system.

India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

is rapidly expanding their urban rail systems as well and notable that first rapid systems appeared not in capital. India's oldest usual metro is in Kolkata

Kolkata Metro

The Kolkata Metro or Calcutta Metro is a mass rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Indian state of West Bengal. The network consists of one operational line and five lines currently under construction...

preceded by elevated rapid transit Cennai MRTS

Mass Rapid Transit System (Chennai)

The Chennai MRTS is an elevated line of the urban mass rapid transit system in Chennai , India. The line currently runs within the city from Chennai Beach to Velachery, covering a distance of 25 km with 21 stations...

. Capital Delhi

Delhi Metro

Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region of India. It is one of the largest metro networks in the world. The network consists of six lines with a total length of with 142 stations of which 35 are underground...

was the third only. Other cities like Mumbai

Mumbai Metro

The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit system being built in Mumbai, India's largest city. The system is designed to reduce the rapidly-growing city's congestion problems, and will be built in three phases over a 15-year period, with overall completion expected in 2021...

, Bengaluru, Chennai

Chennai Metro

The Chennai Metro is a rapid transit system in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The Phase I of the project consisting of two corridors is under construction. The elevated section of the project is scheduled to be operational by 2013 and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by the financial...

, Hyderabad carries a construction of metros. Recently Patna

Patna

Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

and some other cities has hired engineers and civil planners to find an location of future metro lines.

In the past 30 years, a number of cities in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

have also developed modern and extensive subway systems. The largest, Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, has twelve lines over approximately 314 km of track. Busan

Busan

Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

, Daegu

Daegu

Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the...

, Incheon

Incheon

The Incheon Metropolitan City is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City...

, Daejeon

Daejeon

Daejeon is South Korea's fifth largest metropolis and the provincial capital of Chungnam. Located in the center of the country, Daejeon had a population of over 1.5 million in 2010. It is at the crossroads of Gyeongbu railway, Honam railway, Gyeongbu Expressway, and Honam Expressway. Within the...

and Gwangju

Gwangju

Gwangju is the sixth largest city in South Korea. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister...

also have subway systems. Seoul & Incheon is connected by metro.
Pyongyang

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

in communist North Korea notably has a well decorated and deep metro

Pyongyang Metro

The Pyongyang Metro is the metro system in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. It consists of two lines: the Chŏllima line runs from Kwangbok station in the southwest to Ragwŏn station in the northeast, and the Hyŏksin line runs north, from Puhŭng station on the banks of the Taedong to...

with non-geographical names of stations (world's lonely) and considered one as closed for foreigners military object also (bomb shelter).

1987 saw the Mass Rapid Transit

Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)

The Mass Rapid Transit or MRT is a rapid transit system that forms the backbone of the railway system in Singapore, spanning the entire city-state. The initial section of the MRT, between Yio Chu Kang Station and Toa Payoh Station, opened in 1987 establishing itself as the second-oldest metro...

in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

open. It was the world's first heavy rail system to feature platform screen doors

Platform screen doors

Platform screen doors and platform edge doors at train or subway stations screen the platform from the train. They are a relatively new addition to many metro systems around the world, with some platform doors retrofitted rather than installed with the metro system itself. They are widely used in...

. The country made news again by having the world's first automated heavy rail system. The network has three lines with another one to be ready by 2010.

Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

has modern metros in two cities and build in other two.

Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

built first metro in Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

in 1999, second in Mashad in 2011, and more 5 Persian cities constructs metros or light metros to be completed next years.

In Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

not in capital, but in Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

, a 20 km first line of ground and elevated metro system was completed in 2011. A total of 5 metro lines with long trains are planned to carry mass of pilgrims to the religious sites. Another two similar ground metros are under construction in Riyadh

Riyadh

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...

(capital) and Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

(economical "capital").

In UAE 2009 built elevated metro of Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

become as one of most modern in the world and will be followed by metros in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...

and Sharjah

Sharjah (city)

Sharjah is the third largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.Sharjah is the seat of government of the emirate of Sharjah...

.

Some other Asian countries has or constructs metros or metro-like monorails also.

Europe

The first underground in the former USSR (in Russian метрополитен metropoliten or метро metro) opened in 1935 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. The first line — between Sokolniki

Sokolniki (Metro)

Sokolniki is a Moscow Metro station in Sokolniki District, Eastern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, between Krasnoselskaya and Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad stations. It is located under Rusakovskaya street at the foot of Sokolnicheskaya Square and was part of the...

and Park Kul'tury

Park Kultury-Radialnaya

Park Kultury is a Moscow Metro station in the Khamovniki District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, between Frunzenskaya and Kropotkinskaya stations...

— was 11.2 km long. And the projects of two of the first stations, Krasnye Vorota and Mayakovskaya, was awarded a Grand Prix at the 1937 and 1939 World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

s in Paris and New York. The Moscow metro

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...

is one of the most elaborately decorated undergrounds of the world, with its stations (especially built in Stalin epoch) often being called underground palaces. As of 2010, the Moscow metro has 301 kilometers of railways and 182 stations and is one of the busiest metro in the world. In Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union as a whole, subways opened in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg Metro

The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It has been open since November 15, 1955.Formerly known as the V.I...

(1955), Kiev

Kiev Metro

The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...

(1960), Tbilisi

Tbilisi Metro

The Tbilisi Metro is a rapid transit Metro system in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Opened in 1966 it became the fourth Metro system in the former Soviet Union. Like most ex-Soviet Metros, most of the stations are very deep and vividly decorated....

(1965), Baku

Baku Metro

Baku Metro is a rapid transit system serving Baku the capital of Azerbaijan. First opened on November 6, 1967, during the time of the Soviet Union, it has the features found in most other ex-Soviet systems, including very deep central stations, and exquisite decorations that blend traditional...

(1967), Kharkov (1975), Tashkent

Tashkent

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

(1977), Yerevan

Yerevan Metro

The Yerevan Metro is a rapid transit system that serves the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. The system was launched in 1981 and like most former Soviet Metros, its stations are very deep and intricately decorated with national motifs. The metro runs on a 13.4km line and currently services 10 active...

(1981), Minsk

Minsk Metro

The Minsk Metro is a rapid-transit system that serves Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Opened in 1984, it presently consists of 2 lines and 25 stations totaling 30.3 kilometres...

(1984), Nizhniy Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod Metro

The Nizhny Novgorod Metro , formerly known as Gorky Metro is a rapid-transit system that serves the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Opened in 1985, it consists of 13 stations and is 15.3 kilometres long.-History:...

(1985), Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk Metro

-History:Novosibirsk is the third largest city of Russia, with a population of 1.4 million people. It was founded as a junction city between the main transfer arteries in Siberia, the Trans-Siberian railway and the Ob River. Thus, it was not a surprise that the city grew very quickly...

(1986), Samara

Samara Metro

Samara Metro , formerly known as the Kuybyshev Metro , is a rapid transit system which serves the city of Samara, Russia. Opened in 1987, it consists of one line with 9 stations and 11.4 km of bi-directional long track.-History:...

(1987), Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg Metro

The Yekaterinburg Metro is a rapid transit system that serves the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia.-History:Yekaterinburg, formerly called Sverdlovsk, was always known as the informal capital of the Urals, a natural divide between Europe and Asia, between Siberia and the European Russia. The city...

(1991), Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk Metro

The Dnipropetrovsk Metro is a single-line metro system that serves the city of Dnipropetrovsk, the third largest city in Ukraine by population. The metro was the third system constructed in Ukraine, after the Kiev and Kharkiv metro systems, respectfully, when it opened on December 29, 1995...

(1995), Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

(2005) and currently are under bad funded slow construction in some other cities. In Volgograd

Volgograd

Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...

and Kryvyi Rih

Kryvyi Rih Metrotram

The Kryvyi Rih Metrotram is a partially underground rapid tram system that serves the city of Kryvyi Rih, the eighth largest city in Ukraine...

in 1980s a "metrotram" opened – it runs underground, along with common city trams.

In 1959, a metro system was inaugurated in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, called Metropolitano de Lisboa
Lisbon Metro
The Lisbon Metro is the metro system of Lisbon, Portugal. Opened in December 1959, it was the first subway system in Portugal.As of 2011, the four Lisbon subway lines total about in length and comprise 52 stations.- History :- Idea :...

. It was the first underground rail system in the Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

-speaking world.

After some stagnation, in the late of XX century many new European metros, some driverless and tired, appeared in non-large cities, especially in Spain, France and Italy.

The Americas

The Toronto Subway

Toronto subway and RT

The Toronto subway and RT is a rapid transit system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of both underground and elevated railway lines, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission . It was Canada's first completed subway system, with the first line being built under Yonge Street, which opened in...

opened in 1954. One experimental trainset consisted of the first aluminum subway cars, which reduced weight and therefore operating costs. With the next car order in 1963, only aluminum was used. The new cars, at 75 feet/23 m, were at the time the longest in the world. The Montreal Metro

Montreal Metro

The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

, was the second subway system in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and was inaugurated in 1966 as part of Expo 67

Expo 67

The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...

that would be held in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

In Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, the first underground opened in 1974 in nation's largest city and economical "capital" São Paulo, and now well busily carries some four million passengers on an average weekday as part of the São Paulo Metro

São Paulo Metro

The São Paulo Metro is the principal rapid-transit system in the city of São Paulo and the largest in Brazil. It is also the second largest system in South America and the third largest in Latin America, behind Mexico City and Santiago....

. Part of it consists of converted older railways; some of its stations actually date from the 1880s

1880s

The 1880s was the decade that spanned from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1889. They occurred at the core period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Most Western countries experienced a large economic boom, due to the mass production of railroads and other more convenient methods of travel...

. Underground lines have been built also in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Recife

Recife

Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...

, Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

and capital Brasília

Brasília

Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

.

Metro de Santiago

Santiago Metro

Metro de Santiago is South America's most extensive metro system with 5 lines, 108 stations and 103 kilometres of track making it the second longest in Latin America after that of Mexico City. The metro system serves the city of Santiago, Chile. Three of the lines are rubber-tyred...

is the metro system serving Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

, the capital of the Republic of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. It is a network of five lines with a total of 85 stations, and the only South American rubber tired metro.

Non-capital Medellín

Medellín

Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

is served by one of the few profitable metro systems in the world. Operated by the Metro de Medellin Company, moves less than 500.000 passengers a day. This system operates in elevated infrastructure in downtown area and on-level parallel to the river. The construction of the system had astronomical cost overrun that lead to a great public debt, that still is in the budget.

Bay Area Rapid Transit

Bay Area Rapid Transit

Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...

(BART) in the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

and The capital's Washington Metro

Washington Metro

The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...

in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

opened in 1972 and 1976 respectively, as part of changing attitudes towards transportation in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, leading to subway and LRT systems opening in many cities that had done without.

The most recently completed fully underground heavy rail metro line in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

is the LACMTA Red Line

LACMTA Red Line

The Red Line is a subway line running between Downtown Los Angeles via the districts of Hollywood and Mid-Wilshire to North Hollywood within Los Angeles where it connects with the Metroliner Orange line service for stations to the Warner Center in Woodland Hills.The red line, which is one of five...

in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, which goes from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, through the mid-Wilshire area, East Hollywood, central Hollywood, and ending 17 miles away in North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

. Construction was started on this line in 1986 and completed in 2000. In autumn 2005, several politicians including Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...

indicated a desire to complete the originally conceived subway route along Wilshire Boulevard

Wilshire Boulevard

Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...

to West Los Angeles and Santa Monica

Santa Mônica

Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...

Africa

Cairo

Cairo Metro

The Cairo Metro in Egypt is the first of only two full-fledged metro system in Africa, and the Arab World. The system consists of two operational lines, with construction having begun on a third line in 2006....

since 1987 is the first African city with a metro system, partly converted from a railway line. It is currently under development. Modern tram system of Tunis called metro but is not a rapid transit. Second African metro will be Algiers

Algiers Metro

The Algiers Metro in Algiers, Algeria, is a transport project dating from the 1970s that was designed to address the need for mass transport caused by the city's growth. Formally launched in the 1980s, the project slowed down due to financial difficulties and security issues in the 1990s...

. Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

, Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

and some other African cities has plans for metro.

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