London Underground

The London Underground is usually called the Tube by Londoners, ever since the first deep-level electric railway line, or subway, was constructed in 1890. It is a system of electrified railways that run underground in central London but above ground in the suburbs.

Background

The Tube is owned by London Transport, a government agency which is part of Transport for London, who also schedule and let contracts for the famous red double-decker buses.

London's first underground railway line was laid on the 10th of January 1863. Today there are 275 stations and over 408 km of active lines, with 3 million passenger journeys made each day (927 million journeys made 1999-2000).

Lines on the Underground can be classified into three types: surface level, sub-surface (dug by the cut-and-cover method), and deep-level "tube" lines (bored using a Tunnelling shield) running about 20 metres below the surface (although this varies).

Layout

The table below describes each of the lines, giving the colour used to represent the line on the ubiquitous maps, the date of opening and the type of tunnelling used.

Line Name	Colour	Year of Opening	Type	Notes
Bakerloo Line	Brown	1906	Deep level
Central Line	Red	1900	Deep level
Circle Line	Yellow	1884	Sub-surface	1
District Line	Green	1868	Sub-surface	2
East London Line	Orange	1869	Sub-surface
Hammersmith & City Line	Pink	1864	Sub-surface	3
Jubilee Line	Grey	1979	Deep level
Metropolitan Line	Purple	1863	Sub-surface
Northern Line	Black	1907 (part)	Deep level	4
Piccadilly Line	Dark blue	1906	Deep level
Victoria Line	Light blue	1969	Sub-surface
Waterloo & City Line	Teal	1898	Deep level	5

¹The Circle line became known as such in 1949
²Originally called the Metropolitan District Railway
³Originally part of the Metropolitan Line, the line became known as the Hammersmith & City in 1990
⁴The busiest line on the system, with two branches in central London
⁵Came under control of London Transport in 1994
Note: The East London Line was referred to as the "East London Branch" of the Metropolitan Line until the late 1980s, and represented by a double purple line.

The Piccadilly Line now runs to Heathrow Airport and although it is slow and crowded it is nonetheless the cheapest way to get straight to the city centre.

Interchange is possible with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) at several stations, including Bank, Canary Wharf and Stratford, while access to the Croydon Tramlink system is possible at Wimbledon. Interchange with international Eurostar trains can be achieved at Waterloo. The lack of lines in the south of the city is because of the geology of that area, the region almost being one large aquifer. This is made up for, however, by a large number of suburban rail services run by the South West Trains, South Central and Connex franchise holders.

History

Being one of the oldest and most complicated rapid transit systems in the world, the London Underground has a long history.

The first half of the 19th century saw rapid development in train services to London, but most mainline termini were constructed a long way away from the central business district to avoid damage to historic buildings. As a result, reliance on buses increased until London was gridlocked. The solution came in the form of yet another railway. In 1854 it was decided that the Metropolitan Railway Company would be allowed to build a short stretch of underground railway between Paddington and Farringdon. This would link the mainline termini of King's Cross, St. Pancras, Euston, Marylebone and Paddington together. The relatively simple cut-and-cover method was used, because deep-level tunnel construction methods were not sufficiently advanced to construct anything more than covered trenches. This first part of the Metropolitan Railway was opened in 1863 using steam locomotives to haul trains, which meant that ventilation shafts had to be built at regular intervals.

Expansion was fast. The Metropolitan quickly branched out into the suburbs, even creating whole villages from nothing in a region of countryside which came to be known as "Metroland". The railway bought up extra land adjacent to the railway and built houses in a spectacularly practical example of demand creation and by 1880 the 'Met' was carrying 40 million passengers a year.

Meanwhile, a second railway company began construction further south. The Metropolitan District Railway first opened a stretch from Westminster to South Kensington in 1868, taking advantage of the construction of the Thames embankment to expand towards the city, reaching Tower Hill and linking the termini of Victoria, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and Fenchurch Street. Having conquered the city, the District Railway turned its attention to commuters even more so than the Metropolitan Railway had, reaching Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing.

Although the Circle Line didn't get its own identity until 1949, the "District" and the "Metropolitan" had linked up with each other to provide an "Inner Circle" service starting in 1884.

Advances in deep-level tunnel design came thick and fast. Tunneling shields allowed stable tunnels to be constructed 20 metres down, and electric locomotive traction made it both useful and safe. The result was the City and South London Railway, which linked King William Street (close to today's Monument Station) and Stockwell. The ride was unpleasantly rough and the lack of windows seemed to have a detrimental psychological effect. However, people learned from these mistakes and over the next 25 years six independent deep-level lines were built.

The presence of six independent operators operating different Tube lines was inconvenient. In many places passengers had to walk some distance above ground to change between lines. Also, the costs associated with running such a system were heavy, and as a result many companies looked to financiers who could give them the money they needed to expand into the lucrative suburbs.

One such financier was Charles Yerkes, an American tycoon whose company took over all but one tube company (the Waterloo & City remained separate until 1994). Between the wars, expansion took place at a rapid pace, driving the Northern and Bakerloo lines out into the suburbs of northern London. Architect Charles Holden's memorable station designs have brightened the commuter's journey both on these lines and elsewhere with a style which still looks fresh today.

The outbreak of World War II led to the use of many tube stations as air-raid shelters. They were particularly suited to this purpose, but sadly a small number of horrific accidents occurred. A remote stretch of the Central Line was turned into an underground aeroplane factory.

Following that war, travel congestion continued to rise. The construction of the carefully planned Victoria Line on a diagonal NE-SW alignment beneath central London attracted 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). The Jubilee Line first ran in 1977, so-named because it was opened in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. During the 1990s it was extended through the Docklands to Stratford in East London. The stations on the "Jubilee Line Extension" are the most spacious and stylish on any rapid transit system, each one architect-designed. The platforms west of Canning Town incorporate automated platform-edge doors that help to minimise the wind resistance of the train and prevent suicides. These modern stations include lifts (US: elevators) to ease access to all parts of the station complex, particularly by travellers having luggage, or using wheelchairs or push chairs.

Tickets

For fares Transport for London (and local National Rail franchisees) use a zonal pricing scheme where zone 1 is the most central, with a boundary just outside the Circle Line. After number 6, the zones change to letters, zone D being the most remote, consisting of Amersham and Chesham out in the Chiltern Hills on the Metropolitan Line. These lettered zones cater for the rural extremities of the tube and do not encircle the capital. Confusingly, the bus operators treat zones 4, 5 and 6 as a combined zone 4.

In general, the more zones travelled through, the higher the fare. Journeys through zone 1 are more expensive than those only involving outer zones. The zone system works well because most of the stations where lines cross are in zone 1, meaning that most journeys over similar distances will cost the same.

There are assistance booths open for limited periods, and ticket machines usable at any time. The machines will accept coins and fresh English paper money, though no Northern Irish or Scottish notes, beware! They usually give change. LT and the DLR have recently introduced credit and debit card ticket machines across their networks. A small number of cash machines dispensing all zone bus passes have appeared.

London Transport also sell daily, weekend, weekly, monthly, and annual "LT cards", allowing unlimited rides in one or more zones on buses or on the London Underground; these are a good deal for commuters and anyone else who rides the trains or buses daily. Travelcards are similar, although they also permit travel on National Rail. Daily Travelcards are only sold from machines after 9:30 am, but a peak hour inclusive version is available at a much higher price. Many shops, usually newsagents, sell bus passes and Travelcards; these are identified by a "Pass Agent" sign, usually in a door panel or front window. A day pass is valid until 4:30 am the next morning. Passes can be bought from these agents during a day prior to travel.

Station Access

Sadly, not all Underground stations are accessible by people with mobility problems. Many have some of the 408 escalators and 112 lifts (elevators), but not all of them.

The escalators in London Underground stations are both an asset and a liability. They are among the longest escalators in Europe and all are bespoke (custom-built). Because of their age and heavy usage, they tend to break down rather frequently, causing long delays at stations.

Safety

The London Underground has a good safety record. Although suicides are unfortunately common, these are dealt with quickly and with dignity. Surprisingly few accidents are caused by overcrowding on the platforms; one explanation suggested for this is that Londoners are too polite to push!

A fire at King's Cross station on November 18, 1987, was caused by a smouldering cigaratte stub falling onto a wooden-tread escalator panel. Thirty-one people died in the fire, which prompted the phasing-out of wooden escalators and prompted the prohibition of smoking throughout the system.

Corporate Identity

The London Underground maintains one of the strongest corporate identities of any organization in the world. This may be attributed to:

A simple, instantly recognizable logo, a red circle crossed by a blue horizontal bar (designed by Edward Johnston in 1913)
A distinctive sans-serif typeface design used for almost all printed material and signs (Edward Johnston, 1916)
Wide use of the useful and beautiful Tube map (designed by Harry Beck in 1931)
Very careful, gradual development of the identity as a whole
Taking legal action against unauthorized use of the trademarks
A simple selling proposition

The Future

The London Underground is in a state of flux at the moment. Currently midway through partial privatisation, the system's maintenance is being taken over by two Infracos (Infrastructure Companies). These are Metronet and Tube Lines. It has been decided that Metronet will maintain the Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, East London, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. Tube Lines will handle the remainder: the Jubilee, Northern, Picadilly, Victoria and the Waterloo & City. The aim of this "Public-Private Partnership" (PPP) is to accelerate investment in the sadly neglected aspects of the London Underground, commissioning new trains and installing safety features such as ATP, automatic train protection. The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is sceptical about the practicality of the PPP plan. However, he has dropped the legal challenge against PPP, and refurbishment works are expected to be carried out from end 2002 onwards.