History of the London Underground
Encyclopedia
The history of the London Underground
is one of gradual evolution. One section of it was the first urban underground passenger-carrying railway in the world, for although the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
in New York City
, opened in 1844, is sometimes called the "world's oldest subway tunnel", this had no stations and was used for long-distance as well as suburban trains.
services to London, but many mainline terminals (particularly those whose railways came from the north, east and west) were situated some distance from the City of London
. When the "New Road" (now Euston Road
and Marylebone Road) was being constructed in the 1830s, the plan was formed to build a railway in a covered way along its route through the River Fleet
valley. It was the time of the Railway Mania
, and many schemes for shallow underground railways, to counteract the ever-increasing traffic congestion in the capital, were put forward from 1844 onwards; few were successful.
In 1851, following the Great Exhibition, a revised Fleet valley scheme was proposed: this time a broad-gauge line to the Great Western Railway
(GWR) at Paddington
. The latter station suffered from being the furthest distance from the City of any of the main line termini: the completion of its line from Birmingham
worsened the situation. At first the name chosen for the railway was the "Bayswater, Paddington and Holborn Bridge Railway": this was swiftly changed to the "North Metropolitan Railway". Meetings were held in 1853; the GWR pledged its support, on the understanding that the line was extended at both ends - into Paddington at the west and to the City at the east. The Great Northern Railway
(GNR), near whose terminus at King's Cross the line was to pass, also backed the scheme. On 7 August 1854 the whole scheme was reincorporated, and the name "Metropolitan Railway" (MetR) was adopted.
The driving force behind the new railway was Charles Pearson
(1793–1862). For some years the building of the railway lapsed as it proved impossible to raise the capital. When in 1858 Pearson advocated the provision of "cheap railway accommodation to enable working classes to reside in their adjacent country districts" the money at last became available, and work began. Between Paddington and King's Cross the form of construction was cut-and-cover; from there onwards the line was left in open cutting. Mixed-gauge (both standard- and broad-gauge) track was laid. The terminal station at Farringdon was originally called Farringdon Street: the road itself was Victoria Street, renamed Farringdon Road in 1863. After many delays caused by excavations falling in and by the Fleet Ditch Sewer
bursting into the works at Farringdon, and by additional work required after a Board of Trade
inspection, public service began on 10 January 1863. 40,000 passengers were carried over the line that day.
The railway was worked initially by the GWR with its broad-gauge locomotives; later Sir Daniel Gooch
designed and built 22 outside-cylinder 2-4-0 locomotives for the line. Very soon, however, disagreement arose between the two railways, so much so that on 18 July 1863 the GWR gave notice that it would cease to work the railway at the end of the following month. The MetR was forced into making other arrangements for working the line: the GNR and the London and North Western Railway
both loaned rolling stock. The GNR also loaned a few smoke-condensing locomotives, intended for its line from Kings Cross to Farringdon, and other locomotives that had been adapted. By 1 October the MetR was running its own services and the GNR suburban service had also begun. The GWR ran some broad-gauge trains from Windsor
to Farringdon and between Addison Road (later Kensington Olympia
) and the City later in the year.
At the outset the MetR banned smoking from its carriages, to avoid adding to the difficulties of steam operation in tunnel. Eventually it provided smoking carriages in response to public opinion in 1874. A pioneer of workmen's fares, the MetR introduced them on two early morning trains, at first for 3d return fare; this was later reduced to one penny single on one train each way daily. By 1880 the 'Met' was carrying 40 million passengers a year.
The MetR began expanding its network into the suburbs in 1868. Railways always had a great deal of influence on the area through which they ran, not least in this case: in the 1920s the term "Metroland" was coined by the MetR to tempt house purchasers into its territory: it bought extra land adjacent to the railway and built houses in a practical example of demand creation.
to Mansion House
(District) and by the northern route (MetR) Paddington to Aldgate
. It was not until 1884 that the District opened its "City Lines and Extensions", which completed the "Inner Circle," and provided a line to Whitechapel
. The latter made connection with the East London Railway. Trains began to run around both parts of the Inner Circle: the District from Hammersmith to New Cross (now New Cross Gate) (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
) via the southern part of the Circle; and MetR trains to New Cross
(South Eastern Railway
) via the northern route. The trains used the Thames Tunnel
.
s and segmented tunnel linings allowed stable tunnels to be constructed deep underground, and the world's first underground tube railway was the Tower Subway
beneath the River Thames south of Tower Hill in 1870. While this was soon discontinued as a rail service because of poor patronage, better shields and electric locomotive traction appealed to engineers for more ambitious schemes.
The result was the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), which linked King William Street
(close to today's Monument
station
) and Stockwell
in 1890. The trains were small and cramped, the ride was unpleasantly rough and the lack of windows in the carriages seemed to have a detrimental psychological effect on passengers, but the railway was a success. Following its opening, a host of railway schemes were promoted in Parliament during the last decade of the 19th century and obtained consent for construction. Few, however were able to raise the investment to allow work to begin.
By 1900 only two new tube lines had opened:
Other companies with permissions to build but without the finance included:
Charles Yerkes
was an American
tycoon with experience of operating electric tramways in Chicago
. He was also an expert in arranging the complex financial structures necessary to raise the capital the railway companies needed. In 1900, he bought the powers of the CCE&HR company. The following year he secured effective control of the District with a view to its electrification. A few months later he formed the Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company (MDETC) with those two lines and arranged to build Lots Road power station
. Having then acquired control of the GN&SR, the B&PCR and BS&WR railways, the MDETC was reconstituted as the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL) on 9 April 1902. In time, the company also owned many tram lines and proceeded to buy the London General Omnibus Company
, creating an organisation colloquially known as the Combine.
Yerkes raised the funds necessary to build the BS&WR, GNP&BR and the CCE&HR, mainly in the United States, and much of the technology used on the railways was also American in origin. The independence of the railways initially led to competition and rivalry between operators, an inconvenience for passengers. From 1907, the four UERL lines and the C&SLR and CLR began to promote a common brand (the Underground) and began to integrate their ticketing arrangements so that through tickets for journeys on more than one line could be purchased. In 1913, the C&SLR and CLR were taken over and added to the UERL operation, leaving just the MetR, W&CR and the GN&CR as the remaining independent underground railway businesses in London. A proposal for a merger of the UERL and the MetR was considered in 1913, but it was not enacted. The GN&CR was taken over by the MetR in the same year.
, a parliamentary select committee recommended a single traffic authority to cover the whole of London in order to eliminate "acute and wasteful competition", poor services and high fares. The post of Minister of Transport
was created in 1919 and discussion on the issue of a single authority continued for a decade. In 1929, Herbert Morrison
, the Labour
Minister of Transport, worked with the Chairman of the Underground Group, Lord Ashfield
, to produce an acceptable solution to the transportation issue.
In 1933, a public corporation called the London Passenger Transport Board
was created, which soon became known more commonly by its shortened title: "London Transport" (LT). The Underground Group, the Metropolitan Railway and all the bus and tram lines were incorporated in the Board, an organisation similar in scope and purpose to today's Transport for London.
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. Expansion proceeded rapidly, driving the Northern
and Piccadilly Line
s out into the suburbs of northern London. Architect Charles Holden
's memorable station designs are a notable feature of these extensions. A number of extension schemes were in progress on the Northern and Central Lines at the outbreak of World War II
in 1939, which led to their interruption or abandonment.
The bombing of London during the war and especially the Blitz
led to the use of many tube stations as air-raid
shelters. Closed stations and unfinished sections of new line were also used. The shelters were well suited to their purpose, but some stations could still be breached by a direct hit; a small number of attacks did result in serious loss of life, most notably at Balham and Bounds Green
in October 1940 and Bank in January 1941. A still worse disaster was a crowd crush accident at the unfinished Bethnal Green
in March 1943.
As well as public shelters, stations and sections of line were given other similar uses:
and this was placed under the authority of the British Transport Commission
(BTC). The BTC prioritised the reconstruction of its main-line railways, which had also been nationalised, over the maintenance of the Underground. Most of the unfinished plans of the 1935-40 New Works Programme
were shelved or postponed. The Central Line extensions in east and west London opened in the late 1940s but this was the only real accomplishment of the BTC in terms of the expansion of the network, and most of this had already been completed by the time the BTC took over.
The BTC oversaw the completion of the electrification of the network. By 1948 most of the system was run using electric trains. It was only the distant outposts of the Central Line and the Metropolitan Line that still required steam locomotive
s. The electrification of the Central Line was completed on 18 November 1957, when the Epping-Ongar section
was electrified. And the electrification of the Metropolitan Line was completed in August 1960. London Transport fully withdrew steam locomotives from passenger services on 9 September 1961 when British Rail
(BR) took over the operations of the Metropolitan Line between Amersham
and Aylesbury
. Steam locomotives continued to be used on Underground engineering trains on some surface sections of the Metropolitan Line until 1971, several years after steam had been phased out on the BR network.
The BTC was abolished in 1963 and the Ministry of Transport created a separate Board
to run London Transport. This period saw the construction of the carefully planned Victoria Line
on a northeast-southwest alignment beneath central London which helped to absorb much of the extra traffic caused by expansion after the war. It was designed so that almost all of the stations along its length allowed interchange with other lines, and it was the first underground line to use automatic train operation
(ATO) on the entire route.
Between 1970 and 1984, London Transport was run by the Greater London Council
(GLC). In 1977, the Piccadilly Line was extended from Hounslow
to Heathrow Airport.
's Silver Jubilee
in 1977, but did not open until two years later. During design and into initial construction it was known as the Fleet Line, as it was planned to follow much of London's hidden River Fleet
along The Strand
and Fleet Street
to Bank
. At the end of the 1990s it was diverted from the original route through Charing Cross to a new tunnel via Westminster
and Docklands to Stratford
in East London. The stations on the Jubilee Line Extension
are particularly spacious and stylish, each designed by a leading architect. London Underground states that North Greenwich station
"is large enough to contain 3,000 double-decker buses or an ocean liner the size of the RMS "Queen Mary"
within its walls." Canary Wharf station is larger in volume than One Canada Square
, one of the huge towers that dominates the Docklands area; it was built at the bottom of a former dock which was drained and sealed off for the purpose. Canary Wharf is also notable for being the first London Underground station to play host to a wedding, which took place in 2003. All platforms
between North Greenwich
and Westminster
incorporate automated platform-edge doors which are designed to minimise the wind resistance of the train and for noise abatement; as a side benefit they also assist in the prevention of suicide
s. There are no plans at present to extend their installation to the rest of the line or the rest of the system. These stations include lifts
to ease access to all parts of the station complex and were the first stations on the London system to be fully wheelchair
accessible.
's Conservative
government removed London Transport from the GLC's control, replacing it with London Regional Transport
(LRT) - a statutory corporation for which the Secretary of State for Transport was directly responsible. The government planned to modernise the system whilst slashing its subsidy from taxpayers and ratepayers at the same time. As part of this strategy London Underground Limited (LUL) was set up in 1985, as a wholly owned subsidiary of LRT, to run the network on LRT's behalf. This made the London Underground network a single entity for the first time.
(TfL), a statutory corporation that it is part of the Greater London Authority
. TfL is run by a board appointed by and chaired by the Mayor of London
. The entire organisation, including the Mayor, is held to account by the London Assembly
.
(PPP), where all the infrastructure is maintained by private companies but the Underground is owned and operated by TfL. The network was split into three parts—JNP (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines), BCV (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines) and SSL (the sub-surface lines—District, Metropolitan, East London, Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines). The BCV and SSL contracts were won by Metronet
, while JNP was won by Tube Lines
. These companies are known as Infracos—Infrastructure Companies—and are made up of consortia of companies: Metronet, for example, was a consortium of Balfour Beatty
, WS Atkins, Bombardier, EDF Energy
and Thames Water
.
, was sceptical about the practicality of the PPP plan, and brought in the American Bob Kiley
to repeat his success with the New York City Subway
using public bond finance. Taking office in 2000 as London's first directly elected mayor, it was difficult for Livingstone to block the PPP process, which was entirely in the national Government's hands as it still owned London Transport. Livingstone mounted a legal challenge, but eventually dropped it as it was unlikely to succeed, and Metronet and Tube Lines began operations in January 2003. It was later revealed that the legal challenge had cost £
4.2 million directly, as well as £36 million reimbursed to the bidders for costs incurred because of the six-month delay.
In March 2005, the House of Commons
Public Accounts Committee, charged with ensuring value for money in public spending, published a report concluding that this remained to be demonstrated, primarily because of the untested structure of the 30-year contracts. These are to be revised every 7.5 years, meaning that the ultimate price for the promised £15.7 billion of investment is still unknown. It notes that using public bond finance would have saved £90 million a year in financing costs, even though the Government guaranteed repayment of 95% of costs in the event of premature termination, and the contracts place limits and exemptions on financial risk transferred to the infrastructure companies. The system still receives an annual public subsidy of £1 billion, but its spending is now determined entirely by the infracos' interpretation of their 2000-page PPP contracts. Although the private operators are expected to receive 18–20% returns on capital, for the type of risk associated with major upgrades, most of the work is low-risk maintenance and replacement. The public sector procurement option (using private companies for specific major projects) would also have saved the £455 million cost of concluding the PPP contracts, not to mention the five years' delay the contract negotiations caused.
pressed for an urgent review of the PPP, describing its performance as "bordering on disaster". A week later the chief executive of Metronet was sacked, after complaints that it had made £50m profit despite being behind on all its major works. By April 2005, it had started work on only 13 station refurbishments (instead of 32 as scheduled), and was more than a year behind on the refurbishment of 78 District Line trains
. It was also behind on its track replacement programme, having completed 28 km instead of the anticipated 48 km. TfL commented in April 2005 that new equipment promised by Metronet had failed to materialise—"We were supposed to be getting private sector expertise and technology with the PPP (Public Private Partnership) but instead they are just using the same old kit." A TfL spokesman said that Tube Lines was performing much better than Metronet because it had competitively tendered contracts for its capital programme. Metronet, by contrast, had handed the work to its shareholders.
In March 2005 the House of Commons Transport Select Committee noted that "Availability is the most important factor for Tube travellers. All the infracos needed to do to meet their availability benchmarks was to perform only a little worse than in the past. On most lines, they did not even manage that."
Metronet was also declared at fault by an accident investigators' report into a May 2004 derailment at White City
, for failing to implement sufficient safety checks despite being ordered to do so by TfL.
on 18 July 2007. TfL has taken over Metronet's outstanding commitments.
The UK government tried to find another private firm to fill the vacuum left by the liquidation of Metronet. However only TfL expressed a viable interest in taking over Metronet's responsibilities. Even though Tube Lines appears to be stable, this 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 £2bn. 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 due to 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 PPP would place the risks involved in running the network into the hands of the private sector.
ing is an increasing problem for the system. The ground water of London has been rising since the 1960s, after the closing of industries such as breweries
and paper mill
s that had previously extracted large volumes of water. By mid-2001, London Underground was pumping 30,000 cubic metres of water out of its tunnels each day.
Until the completion of the Thames flood barrier in 1986, there was a danger of flooding from the Thames
itself. A series of floodgates were erected in the tunnels which could seal the affected sections of tunnel, allowing services to continue to run either side. The floodgates are not thought necessary since the Thames flood barrier came into service, but they remain in place and are tested infrequently. Some stations occasionally have to be shut for a day because of flooding from cloudbursts.
All these measures have proved insufficient for providing the kind of clean and cool airflow required for the network of today, particularly in summer months, with rising temperatures and lack of ventilation becoming an increasing challenge.
Several ideas have been considered by London Underground for upgrading ventilation and possibly providing some degree of air conditioning
on trains themselves. The new rolling stock currently being introduced on the subsurface lines does feature air-conditioning. For the deep-level tube lines, LUL announced in December 2010 that it is developing a new concept of lightweight, low-energy, semi-articulated, aluminium-bodied train for the deep-level lines called "Evo" (for 'evolution') which, it is hoped, will feature air-conditioning for the first time on any deep tube trains in London. This is to be achieved by various weight-saving measures to reduce energy consumption and thus generate less heat to be dispersed in the tunnels.
and Piccadilly Circus
stations on 23 March 2001, in an effort to make the Underground smell better. It was discontinued the next day as it was making people feel sick.
In January 2005, London Underground announced that it would play classical music at stations prone to loitering by youths. A trial had shown a 33% drop in abuse against staff. This had been first tried, with success, on the Tyne and Wear Metro
.
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...
is one of gradual evolution. One section of it was the first urban underground passenger-carrying railway in the world, for although the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
Cobble Hill Tunnel
The Cobble Hill Tunnel of the Long Island Rail Road is an abandoned railroad tunnel beneath Atlantic Avenue in downtown Brooklyn, New York City. When open, it ran for about between Columbia Street and Boerum Place...
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...
, opened in 1844, is sometimes called the "world's oldest subway tunnel", this had no stations and was used for long-distance as well as suburban trains.
Early schemes
The first half of the 19th century saw rapid development in trainTrain
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
services to London, but many mainline terminals (particularly those whose railways came from the north, east and west) were situated some distance from the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. When the "New Road" (now Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
and Marylebone Road) was being constructed in the 1830s, the plan was formed to build a railway in a covered way along its route through the River Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
valley. It was the time of the Railway Mania
Railway Mania
The Railway Mania was an instance of speculative frenzy in Britain in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, more and more money was poured in by speculators, until the inevitable collapse...
, and many schemes for shallow underground railways, to counteract the ever-increasing traffic congestion in the capital, were put forward from 1844 onwards; few were successful.
In 1851, following the Great Exhibition, a revised Fleet valley scheme was proposed: this time a broad-gauge line to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) at Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
. The latter station suffered from being the furthest distance from the City of any of the main line termini: the completion of its line from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
worsened the situation. At first the name chosen for the railway was the "Bayswater, Paddington and Holborn Bridge Railway": this was swiftly changed to the "North Metropolitan Railway". Meetings were held in 1853; the GWR pledged its support, on the understanding that the line was extended at both ends - into Paddington at the west and to the City at the east. The Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
(GNR), near whose terminus at King's Cross the line was to pass, also backed the scheme. On 7 August 1854 the whole scheme was reincorporated, and the name "Metropolitan Railway" (MetR) was adopted.
Metropolitan Railway (1863)
The driving force behind the new railway was Charles Pearson
Charles Pearson
Charles Pearson was Solicitor to the City of London, a reforming campaigner, and – briefly – Member of Parliament for Lambeth...
(1793–1862). For some years the building of the railway lapsed as it proved impossible to raise the capital. When in 1858 Pearson advocated the provision of "cheap railway accommodation to enable working classes to reside in their adjacent country districts" the money at last became available, and work began. Between Paddington and King's Cross the form of construction was cut-and-cover; from there onwards the line was left in open cutting. Mixed-gauge (both standard- and broad-gauge) track was laid. The terminal station at Farringdon was originally called Farringdon Street: the road itself was Victoria Street, renamed Farringdon Road in 1863. After many delays caused by excavations falling in and by the Fleet Ditch Sewer
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
bursting into the works at Farringdon, and by additional work required after a Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
inspection, public service began on 10 January 1863. 40,000 passengers were carried over the line that day.
The railway was worked initially by the GWR with its broad-gauge locomotives; later Sir Daniel Gooch
Daniel Gooch
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet was an English railway and transatlantic cable engineer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885...
designed and built 22 outside-cylinder 2-4-0 locomotives for the line. Very soon, however, disagreement arose between the two railways, so much so that on 18 July 1863 the GWR gave notice that it would cease to work the railway at the end of the following month. The MetR was forced into making other arrangements for working the line: the GNR and the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
both loaned rolling stock. The GNR also loaned a few smoke-condensing locomotives, intended for its line from Kings Cross to Farringdon, and other locomotives that had been adapted. By 1 October the MetR was running its own services and the GNR suburban service had also begun. The GWR ran some broad-gauge trains from Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
to Farringdon and between Addison Road (later Kensington Olympia
Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
) and the City later in the year.
At the outset the MetR banned smoking from its carriages, to avoid adding to the difficulties of steam operation in tunnel. Eventually it provided smoking carriages in response to public opinion in 1874. A pioneer of workmen's fares, the MetR introduced them on two early morning trains, at first for 3d return fare; this was later reduced to one penny single on one train each way daily. By 1880 the 'Met' was carrying 40 million passengers a year.
The MetR began expanding its network into the suburbs in 1868. Railways always had a great deal of influence on the area through which they ran, not least in this case: in the 1920s the term "Metroland" was coined by the MetR to tempt house purchasers into its territory: it bought extra land adjacent to the railway and built houses in a practical example of demand creation.
Metropolitan District Railway
The MetR and the Metropolitan District Railway (District) are inextricably linked. Both were empowered to complete the Inner Circle line in the 1850s, although for a time there was competition between the two, the MetR in particular bearing the most animosity, probably because that line was in a deplorable financial situation by July 1871. Nevertheless the two railways ran the trains on the parts of the Circle then open: KensingtonHigh Street Kensington tube station
High Street Kensington is a London Underground station at Kensington High Street.The station is on the Circle Line between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate, and the District Line between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate. It is in Travelcard Zone 1....
to Mansion House
Mansion House tube station
Mansion House is a London Underground station in the City of London, near Mansion House . It is a sub-surface station served by trains on the Circle and District Lines. It is between Blackfriars and Cannon Street stations. The station is located at the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Cannon...
(District) and by the northern route (MetR) Paddington to Aldgate
Aldgate tube station
Aldgate tube station is a London Underground station located at Aldgate in the City of London.The station is on the Circle Line between Tower Hill and Liverpool Street. It is also the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan Line...
. It was not until 1884 that the District opened its "City Lines and Extensions", which completed the "Inner Circle," and provided a line to Whitechapel
Whitechapel tube station
Whitechapel is a London Underground and London Overground station on Whitechapel Road in the Whitechapel neighbourhood of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London, England. The station is located on the east–west tracks shared by the District line and Hammersmith and City line and is on...
. The latter made connection with the East London Railway. Trains began to run around both parts of the Inner Circle: the District from Hammersmith to New Cross (now New Cross Gate) (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...
) via the southern part of the Circle; and MetR trains to New Cross
New Cross station
New Cross railway station is a railway station in New Cross, London. It is in Zone 2, on the East London Line. Closed in late 2007, the station was refurbished and re-opened as part of the London Overground network on 27 April 2010 for preview services...
(South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
) via the northern route. The trains used the Thames Tunnel
Thames Tunnel
The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet high and is 1,300 feet long, running at a depth of 75 feet below the river's surface...
.
Deep-level tube lines
Advances in deep-level tunnel design came rapidly. Tunnelling shieldTunnelling shield
A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used in the excavation of tunnels through soil that is too soft or fluid to remain stable during the time it takes to line the tunnel with a support structure of concrete, cast iron or steel...
s and segmented tunnel linings allowed stable tunnels to be constructed deep underground, and the world's first underground tube railway was the Tower Subway
Tower Subway
The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane to the south...
beneath the River Thames south of Tower Hill in 1870. While this was soon discontinued as a rail service because of poor patronage, better shields and electric locomotive traction appealed to engineers for more ambitious schemes.
The result was the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), which linked King William Street
King William Street tube station
King William Street was the original but short-lived northern terminus of the City & South London Railway , the first deep tube underground railway in London and one of the component parts of the London Underground's Northern Line. It was in the City of London, on King William Street, just south...
(close to today's Monument
Monument to the Great Fire of London
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known as The monument, is a 202 ft tall stone Roman Doric column in the City of London, England, near the northern end of London Bridge. It stands at the junction of Monument Street and Panda Bear Hill, 202 ft from where the Great...
station
Bank and Monument stations
Bank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street in the City of London. Bank station, named after the Bank of England, opened in 1900 and is served by the Central, Northern and...
) and Stockwell
Stockwell
Stockwell is a district in inner south west London, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth.It is situated south south-east of Charing Cross. Brixton, Clapham, Vauxhall and Kennington all border Stockwell...
in 1890. The trains were small and cramped, the ride was unpleasantly rough and the lack of windows in the carriages seemed to have a detrimental psychological effect on passengers, but the railway was a success. Following its opening, a host of railway schemes were promoted in Parliament during the last decade of the 19th century and obtained consent for construction. Few, however were able to raise the investment to allow work to begin.
By 1900 only two new tube lines had opened:
- Waterloo and City Railway (W&CR), opened in 1898 and operated by mainline company the London and South Western RailwayLondon and South Western RailwayThe London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
from its terminal at WaterlooWaterloo stationWaterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....
to Bank stationBank and Monument stationsBank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street in the City of London. Bank station, named after the Bank of England, opened in 1900 and is served by the Central, Northern and...
in the City of London. It was later operated by British RailBritish RailBritish Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
until taken over by London Underground in 1994. - Central London RailwayCentral London RailwayThe Central London Railway , also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London in 1900...
(CLR), opened in 1900 (now the Central Line)
- Great Northern and City Railway (GN&CR), opened in 1904 (operated by the MetR from 1913 and the Northern lineNorthern LineThe Northern line is a London Underground line. It is coloured black on the Tube map.For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in...
from 1939 until 1975 and now operated by Network Rail) - Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR) and the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B&PCR), merged to form the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton RailwayGreat Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton RailwayThe Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...
and opened in 1906 (now the Piccadilly line) - Baker Street and Waterloo RailwayBaker Street and Waterloo RailwayThe Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London...
(BS&WR), opened in 1906 (now the Bakerloo line) - Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), opened in 1907 (now part of the Northern Line)
Charles Yerkes
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes was an American financier, born in Philadelphia. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.-Philadelphia:...
was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tycoon with experience of operating electric tramways in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He was also an expert in arranging the complex financial structures necessary to raise the capital the railway companies needed. In 1900, he bought the powers of the CCE&HR company. The following year he secured effective control of the District with a view to its electrification. A few months later he formed the Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company (MDETC) with those two lines and arranged to build Lots Road power station
Lots Road Power Station
Lots Road Power Station is a disused coal and later oil-fired power station on the River Thames at Lots Road in Chelsea, London in the south-west of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which supplied electricity to the London Underground system...
. Having then acquired control of the GN&SR, the B&PCR and BS&WR railways, the MDETC was reconstituted as the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
(UERL) on 9 April 1902. In time, the company also owned many tram lines and proceeded to buy the London General Omnibus Company
London General Omnibus Company
The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer.- Overview :...
, creating an organisation colloquially known as the Combine.
Yerkes raised the funds necessary to build the BS&WR, GNP&BR and the CCE&HR, mainly in the United States, and much of the technology used on the railways was also American in origin. The independence of the railways initially led to competition and rivalry between operators, an inconvenience for passengers. From 1907, the four UERL lines and the C&SLR and CLR began to promote a common brand (the Underground) and began to integrate their ticketing arrangements so that through tickets for journeys on more than one line could be purchased. In 1913, the C&SLR and CLR were taken over and added to the UERL operation, leaving just the MetR, W&CR and the GN&CR as the remaining independent underground railway businesses in London. A proposal for a merger of the UERL and the MetR was considered in 1913, but it was not enacted. The GN&CR was taken over by the MetR in the same year.
Later changes
After the end of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, a parliamentary select committee recommended a single traffic authority to cover the whole of London in order to eliminate "acute and wasteful competition", poor services and high fares. The post of Minister of Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
was created in 1919 and discussion on the issue of a single authority continued for a decade. In 1929, Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
, the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Minister of Transport, worked with the Chairman of the Underground Group, Lord Ashfield
Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield
Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, PC, TD , born Albert Henry Knattriess, was a British-American who was managing director, then chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London from 1910 to 1933 and chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board from 1933 to 1947.Although...
, to produce an acceptable solution to the transportation issue.
In 1933, a public corporation called the London Passenger Transport Board
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
was created, which soon became known more commonly by its shortened title: "London Transport" (LT). The Underground Group, the Metropolitan Railway and all the bus and tram lines were incorporated in the Board, an organisation similar in scope and purpose to today's Transport for London.
London Transport set in motion a scheme for the expansion of the network, the 1935–1940 New Works Programme
New Works Programme
The "New Works Programme, 1935 - 1940" was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board , commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the capital and the surrounding areas...
. 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. Expansion proceeded rapidly, driving the Northern
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line. It is coloured black on the Tube map.For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in...
and Piccadilly Line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
s out into the suburbs of northern London. Architect Charles Holden
Charles Holden
Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the...
's memorable station designs are a notable feature of these extensions. A number of extension schemes were in progress on the Northern and Central Lines at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, which led to their interruption or abandonment.
World War II
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
led to the use of many tube stations as air-raid
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
shelters. Closed stations and unfinished sections of new line were also used. The shelters were well suited to their purpose, but some stations could still be breached by a direct hit; a small number of attacks did result in serious loss of life, most notably at Balham and Bounds Green
Bounds Green tube station
Bounds Green tube station is a London Underground station, located at the junction of Bounds Green Road and Brownlow Road, in North London.The station is on the Piccadilly Line, between Wood Green and Arnos Grove stations, and is on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 3 and fare_zone 4.Like all ...
in October 1940 and Bank in January 1941. A still worse disaster was a crowd crush accident at the unfinished Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green tube station
Bethnal Green tube station is a station on the Central Line of the London Underground in Bethnal Green, East London. It lies between Liverpool Street and Mile End stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station was opened as part of the long planned Central Line eastern extension on 4 December...
in March 1943.
As well as public shelters, stations and sections of line were given other similar uses:
- An unfinished stretch of the Central LineCentral LineThe Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
extension, between RedbridgeRedbridge tube stationRedbridge tube station is a London Underground station in Redbridge, on the Hainault Loop of the Central line, in Zone 4. It is on the Eastern Avenue....
and Gants HillGants Hill tube stationGants Hill tube station is a London Underground station in Gants Hill, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is served by the Central Line and is in Zone 4. It is the easternmost station to be entirely below ground on the London Underground network....
, was turned into an underground aircraftAircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
factory. - The closed Brompton Road stationBrompton Road tube stationBrompton Road tube station is a disused station on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. It is located between Knightsbridge and South Kensington.-History:...
was used as an anti-aircraft control centre. - The closed Down Street stationDown Street tube stationDown Street, also known as Down Street , is a disused station of the London Underground's Piccadilly line which closed in 1932. During World War II it was used as an air-raid shelter, notably by Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet.-History:...
was used by Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
until the Cabinet War Rooms were built, after which it was used by the Railway Emergency Committee.
Nationalisation
London Transport was nationalised on 1 January 1948. It was renamed the London Transport ExecutiveLondon Transport Executive
The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948-1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-Creation:On 1...
and this was placed under the authority of the British Transport Commission
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...
(BTC). The BTC prioritised the reconstruction of its main-line railways, which had also been nationalised, over the maintenance of the Underground. Most of the unfinished plans of the 1935-40 New Works Programme
New Works Programme
The "New Works Programme, 1935 - 1940" was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board , commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the capital and the surrounding areas...
were shelved or postponed. The Central Line extensions in east and west London opened in the late 1940s but this was the only real accomplishment of the BTC in terms of the expansion of the network, and most of this had already been completed by the time the BTC took over.
The BTC oversaw the completion of the electrification of the network. By 1948 most of the system was run using electric trains. It was only the distant outposts of the Central Line and the Metropolitan Line that still required steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s. The electrification of the Central Line was completed on 18 November 1957, when the Epping-Ongar section
Epping Ongar Railway
The Epping Ongar Railway operates on a preserved railway along the final section of the old Great Eastern Railway and London Underground Central Line branch line between Epping and Ongar, with an intermediate station at North Weald...
was electrified. And the electrification of the Metropolitan Line was completed in August 1960. London Transport fully withdrew steam locomotives from passenger services on 9 September 1961 when British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
(BR) took over the operations of the Metropolitan Line between Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
and Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
. Steam locomotives continued to be used on Underground engineering trains on some surface sections of the Metropolitan Line until 1971, several years after steam had been phased out on the BR network.
The BTC was abolished in 1963 and the Ministry of Transport created a separate Board
London Transport Board
The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1963-1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-History:The...
to run London Transport. This period saw the construction of the carefully planned Victoria Line
Victoria Line
The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map...
on a northeast-southwest alignment beneath central London which helped to absorb much of the extra traffic caused by expansion after the war. It was designed so that almost all of the stations along its length allowed interchange with other lines, and it was the first underground line to use automatic train operation
Automatic train operation
Automatic train operation ensures partial or complete automatic train piloting and driverless functions.Most systems elect to maintain a driver to mitigate risks associated with failures or emergencies....
(ATO) on the entire route.
Between 1970 and 1984, London Transport was run by the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
(GLC). In 1977, the Piccadilly Line was extended from Hounslow
Hounslow
Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...
to Heathrow Airport.
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee Line was named in honour of Queen ElizabethElizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
in 1977, but did not open until two years later. During design and into initial construction it was known as the Fleet Line, as it was planned to follow much of London's hidden River Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
along The Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
and Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
to Bank
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
. At the end of the 1990s it was diverted from the original route through Charing Cross to a new tunnel via Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
and Docklands to Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
in East London. The stations on the Jubilee Line Extension
Jubilee Line Extension
The Jubilee Line Extension is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the Jubilee line was first proposed in the 1970s and a modified route was constructed during the 1990s...
are particularly spacious and stylish, each designed by a leading architect. London Underground states that North Greenwich station
North Greenwich tube station
North Greenwich is a station on London Underground's Jubilee Line, opened on 14 May 1999.Despite its name, North Greenwich is not in the area historically known as North Greenwich, on the Isle of Dogs, north of the river; an entirely different station used to be there, between 1872 and 1926...
"is large enough to contain 3,000 double-decker buses or an ocean liner the size of the RMS "Queen Mary"
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
within its walls." Canary Wharf station is larger in volume than One Canada Square
One Canada Square
One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is the tallest completed building in the United Kingdom since 1991, standing at above ground level and containing 50 storeys...
, one of the huge towers that dominates the Docklands area; it was built at the bottom of a former dock which was drained and sealed off for the purpose. Canary Wharf is also notable for being the first London Underground station to play host to a wedding, which took place in 2003. All platforms
Railway platform
A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all stations for rail transport have some form of platforms, with larger stations having multiple platforms...
between North Greenwich
North Greenwich tube station
North Greenwich is a station on London Underground's Jubilee Line, opened on 14 May 1999.Despite its name, North Greenwich is not in the area historically known as North Greenwich, on the Isle of Dogs, north of the river; an entirely different station used to be there, between 1872 and 1926...
and Westminster
Westminster tube station
Westminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines, the station is between St. James's Park and Embankment and, on the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo. It is in...
incorporate automated platform-edge doors which are designed to minimise the wind resistance of the train and for noise abatement; as a side benefit they also assist in the prevention of suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
s. There are no plans at present to extend their installation to the rest of the line or the rest of the system. These stations include lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
to ease access to all parts of the station complex and were the first stations on the London system to be fully wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
accessible.
London Regional Transport (LRT)
In 1984, Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government removed London Transport from the GLC's control, replacing it with London Regional Transport
London Regional Transport
London Regional Transport was the organisation responsible for the public transport network in Greater London, UK from 1984-2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.The organisation was...
(LRT) - a statutory corporation for which the Secretary of State for Transport was directly responsible. The government planned to modernise the system whilst slashing its subsidy from taxpayers and ratepayers at the same time. As part of this strategy London Underground Limited (LUL) was set up in 1985, as a wholly owned subsidiary of LRT, to run the network on LRT's behalf. This made the London Underground network a single entity for the first time.
Transport for London
In 2000, LRT was replaced by Transport for LondonTransport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...
(TfL), a statutory corporation that it is part of the Greater London Authority
Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority is the top-tier administrative body for Greater London, England. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Boris Johnson, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers...
. TfL is run by a board appointed by and chaired by the Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
. The entire organisation, including the Mayor, is held to account by the London Assembly
London Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
.
Public-Private Partnership
Since January 2003, LUL has been operated as a Public-Private PartnershipPublic-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
(PPP), where all the infrastructure is maintained by private companies but the Underground is owned and operated by TfL. The network was split into three parts—JNP (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines), BCV (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines) and SSL (the sub-surface lines—District, Metropolitan, East London, Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines). The BCV and SSL contracts were won by Metronet
Metronet
Metronet Rail was one of two companies in a public-private partnership with London Underground.Metronet was responsible for the maintenance, renewal, and upgrade of the infrastructure on nine London Underground lines from 2003 to 2008. This included track, trains, signals, civil work and stations...
, while JNP was won by Tube Lines
Tube Lines
Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP', has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London since May 2010. Tube Lines is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civil work and...
. These companies are known as Infracos—Infrastructure Companies—and are made up of consortia of companies: Metronet, for example, was a consortium of Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc is a British construction, engineering, military housing, rail and investment services company. It is one of the largest construction companies in the UK, and the 15th largest in the world...
, WS Atkins, Bombardier, EDF Energy
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom...
and Thames Water
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is the private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in large parts of Greater London, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Kent, and some other areas of in the United Kingdom...
.
Creation
The Mayor of London, Ken LivingstoneKen Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, was sceptical about the practicality of the PPP plan, and brought in the American Bob Kiley
Bob Kiley
Robert R. Kiley, better known as Bob Kiley, is a public transit planner and supervisor, with a reputation of being able to save transit systems experiencing serious problems...
to repeat his success with the New York City Subway
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...
using public bond finance. Taking office in 2000 as London's first directly elected mayor, it was difficult for Livingstone to block the PPP process, which was entirely in the national Government's hands as it still owned London Transport. Livingstone mounted a legal challenge, but eventually dropped it as it was unlikely to succeed, and Metronet and Tube Lines began operations in January 2003. It was later revealed that the legal challenge had cost £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
4.2 million directly, as well as £36 million reimbursed to the bidders for costs incurred because of the six-month delay.
In March 2005, the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
Public Accounts Committee, charged with ensuring value for money in public spending, published a report concluding that this remained to be demonstrated, primarily because of the untested structure of the 30-year contracts. These are to be revised every 7.5 years, meaning that the ultimate price for the promised £15.7 billion of investment is still unknown. It notes that using public bond finance would have saved £90 million a year in financing costs, even though the Government guaranteed repayment of 95% of costs in the event of premature termination, and the contracts place limits and exemptions on financial risk transferred to the infrastructure companies. The system still receives an annual public subsidy of £1 billion, but its spending is now determined entirely by the infracos' interpretation of their 2000-page PPP contracts. Although the private operators are expected to receive 18–20% returns on capital, for the type of risk associated with major upgrades, most of the work is low-risk maintenance and replacement. The public sector procurement option (using private companies for specific major projects) would also have saved the £455 million cost of concluding the PPP contracts, not to mention the five years' delay the contract negotiations caused.
Performance
In April 2005, Bob KileyBob Kiley
Robert R. Kiley, better known as Bob Kiley, is a public transit planner and supervisor, with a reputation of being able to save transit systems experiencing serious problems...
pressed for an urgent review of the PPP, describing its performance as "bordering on disaster". A week later the chief executive of Metronet was sacked, after complaints that it had made £50m profit despite being behind on all its major works. By April 2005, it had started work on only 13 station refurbishments (instead of 32 as scheduled), and was more than a year behind on the refurbishment of 78 District Line trains
London Underground D78 Stock
The London Underground D Stock is a type of electric multiple unit used on the London Underground District Line . The entire fleet is due to be replaced with S Stock trains in 2015.- History :...
. It was also behind on its track replacement programme, having completed 28 km instead of the anticipated 48 km. TfL commented in April 2005 that new equipment promised by Metronet had failed to materialise—"We were supposed to be getting private sector expertise and technology with the PPP (Public Private Partnership) but instead they are just using the same old kit." A TfL spokesman said that Tube Lines was performing much better than Metronet because it had competitively tendered contracts for its capital programme. Metronet, by contrast, had handed the work to its shareholders.
In March 2005 the House of Commons Transport Select Committee noted that "Availability is the most important factor for Tube travellers. All the infracos needed to do to meet their availability benchmarks was to perform only a little worse than in the past. On most lines, they did not even manage that."
Metronet was also declared at fault by an accident investigators' report into a May 2004 derailment at White City
White City tube station
White City tube station is a London Underground station situated on Wood Lane in White City in west London. The station is on the Central Line, between Shepherds Bush and East Acton stations, in Travelcard Zone 2.-History:...
, for failing to implement sufficient safety checks despite being ordered to do so by TfL.
Future
Metronet was placed into administrationAdministration (insolvency)
As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on running their business. The process – an alternative to liquidation – is often known as going...
on 18 July 2007. TfL has taken over Metronet's outstanding commitments.
The UK government tried to find another private firm to fill the vacuum left by the liquidation of Metronet. However only TfL expressed a viable interest in taking over Metronet's responsibilities. Even though Tube Lines appears to be stable, this 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 £2bn. 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 due to 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 PPP would place the risks involved in running the network into the hands of the private sector.
Flooding
FloodFlood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing is an increasing problem for the system. The ground water of London has been rising since the 1960s, after the closing of industries such as breweries
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
and paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
s that had previously extracted large volumes of water. By mid-2001, London Underground was pumping 30,000 cubic metres of water out of its tunnels each day.
Until the completion of the Thames flood barrier in 1986, there was a danger of flooding from the Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
itself. A series of floodgates were erected in the tunnels which could seal the affected sections of tunnel, allowing services to continue to run either side. The floodgates are not thought necessary since the Thames flood barrier came into service, but they remain in place and are tested infrequently. Some stations occasionally have to be shut for a day because of flooding from cloudbursts.
Ventilation
Adequate airflow and ventilation is also a concern for management of London Underground. Currently, there are various ventilation shafts around the London area which open out onto street level and were built during the Victorian era to provide some airflow, while a 'piston effect' of trains entering tunnels and exiting into stations is relied on to pull in fresher air to platforms and extract stale air.All these measures have proved insufficient for providing the kind of clean and cool airflow required for the network of today, particularly in summer months, with rising temperatures and lack of ventilation becoming an increasing challenge.
Several ideas have been considered by London Underground for upgrading ventilation and possibly providing some degree of air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
on trains themselves. The new rolling stock currently being introduced on the subsurface lines does feature air-conditioning. For the deep-level tube lines, LUL announced in December 2010 that it is developing a new concept of lightweight, low-energy, semi-articulated, aluminium-bodied train for the deep-level lines called "Evo" (for 'evolution') which, it is hoped, will feature air-conditioning for the first time on any deep tube trains in London. This is to be achieved by various weight-saving measures to reduce energy consumption and thus generate less heat to be dispersed in the tunnels.
Station improvements
A fragrance called "Madeleine" was introduced at St James's Park, EustonEuston tube station
Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1....
and Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
stations on 23 March 2001, in an effort to make the Underground smell better. It was discontinued the next day as it was making people feel sick.
In January 2005, London Underground announced that it would play classical music at stations prone to loitering by youths. A trial had shown a 33% drop in abuse against staff. This had been first tried, with success, on the Tyne and Wear Metro
Tyne and Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...
.
Further reading
- James Meek, London Review of Books, 5 May 2005, "Crocodile's Breath"
- London Transport Museum Photographic Browser - collection of historical photographs