London Undergouund

By Arnav Mishra Chief-In-Editor

This Idea appeared in the Horse and Cart Era. This was in the late 1830's. When the London Streets were jam packed with Horse and Cart commuters. This soon became a serious problem. Many solutions were proposed. They later saw how efficiently the National Rail was running with the three key points

1. Time Efficiency

2. Speed

3. Affordability

The Rail was the final solution.

Central London or Greater London

First Days

Soon a situation appeared that they could not lay heavy rail tracks .A Brainstorm happened to make it underground. This Idea was later proposed to the British Government and got approved and funded in 1854. After its construction it opened in 1863. It was named as the Metropolitan Line.

Taking almost 9 years for the largest achievement in British History. On its opening day it carried more than 38 Thousand People. The first route was between London Farringdon to Paddington(All Underground).The government saw this huge success and built more getting more line built to what it is today.

This success also had a huge health problem .The large amounts of steam pouring into a closed tunnel got very toxic for the commuters and the driver. The diesel engine was also invented but was no use because it also poured black smoke. They then saw the Germans who invented an electric engine. They soon copied and started to run the electric engine.

Still there was a problem. Once all engines were electric and rails were electrified, Where would all the energy come from? The Battersea Power Station produced energy for the tube until the 1980's.

This problem was finally sorted and the railway kept running smoothly until WW1

In 1933, most of London's underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, which used the London Transport brand.

In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, Harry Beck's diagrammatic tube map first appeared.

Gradually this grew to this in 1907 in the given below picture.

World War 2

The 1935–40 New Works Programme included the extension of the Central and Northern lines and the Bakerloo line to take over the Metropolitan's Stanmore branch. World War II suspended these plans after the Bakerloo line had reached Stanmore and the Northern line High Barnet and Mill Hill East in 1941.

Most of the network was suspended for most of the years. Leaving Olympia exhibition Centre without a railway service until a District line shuttle from Earl's Court began after the war. After work restarted on the Central line extensions in east and west London, these were completed in 1949.

During the war many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters. A deadly mistake had been done, A missile was tested in the tunnels where the people had taken shelter, the aftermath was disaster 173 people died with 62 children making this both the worst civilian disaster of World War II, and the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network.

The World War 2 Life in the Tube. They lived in such conditions just to stay safe.

Opening Dates

The Lines had been built one after the other some big some small Heres the List of the lines opening dates

1.Metropolitan Line-1863

2.Hammersmith and City Line-1864

3.District Line-1868

4.Circle Line-1871

5.Northern Line-1891

6.Waterloo and City Line-1998 (Converted from British Rail to Tube)

7.Central Line-1900

8.Bakerloo Line-1906

9.Piccadilly Line-1906

10.Victoria Line-1969

11.Jubilee Line-1979

Fascinating Facts

1. The Tube Moves at over 55 KPH

2. The tube Runs on only 1380 Volts

3. More than 5 Million people ride this complex network Daily!.

4. 2021 is its 158'th Year of service.

5. The Annual Ridership is 1.4 Billion. Same as China or India's Population!.

Ventilation

Tunnels Can get very hot over time, Exceeding 46 Degrees Celsius with overcrowding causes huge problems this is a serious matter as this leads to health problems. The trains moving gave quite large amounts of air, but not for long over the years this has been improved to the cooling point.

Fares

The fares are based on zones train transfer are free due to zones This bought almost 3 Billion Pounds in Revenue. Here is a map of the zone map. For daily commuters The Oyster was designed. Just directly go to the machine and tap at the machine instead of buying tickets in long lines.

The Stations

The Stations are located within 1 KM of each other

These stations include the following the following

• Free WI-FI

• Step-Free Access(Elevators available)

• Phone Reception

• Staff Availability

Flaws

The Underground is Very ancient which is over 155 years old. Tunnels 10's of years old. Trains them self are decades old ranging from 1940-1990.This makes the system very vulnerable to many dangers like the tunnels collapsing or the trains brake down. This is being fixed one by one.

Night Tube

This runs from 1 AM to 5 AM in the morning this is useful for many people who simply need to go out at night example Night Shift Workers But only some part of the tube run 24/7 here is a map of the night tube.

Check out the official night tube map here: Night Tube Map

Accidents

• 17 May 1938 Two District Line Trains Collided Killing 6 People

• 27July 1946 Two Metropolitan Line trains collided because of heavy fog.

• 8 April 1953 Two Central Line Trains collided due to Signaling failure

• On 26 July, bombs exploded at King's Cross and Victoria stations. In King's Cross, one man was killed and two wounded

• On 9 October, a bomb detonated just outside Green Park station, killing one and injuring 20 people.

• On 7 July 2005, bombs exploded on Underground trains between Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations, Russell Square and King's Cross St. Pancras stations and Edgware Road and Paddington stations. A double-decker bus at Tavistock Square was also destroyed. The bombs were detonated by four British terrorist suicide bombers. The explosions killed 52 people and resulted in over 700 injuries.

Sources-Wikipedia & www.tfl.gov.uk