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Find a Tube station. For live departures, status information, route maps and timetables. Search for Tube station or line (e.g. Tube improvements First & last Tubes Art on the Underground Poems on the Underground. Fares Transport accessibility Station WiFi Tube station car parks Bikes on public transport. Bakerloo Special service. Find a Tube station. For live departures, status information, route maps and timetables. Search for Tube station or line (e.g. Tube improvements First & last Tubes Art on the Underground Poems on the Underground. Fares Transport accessibility Station WiFi Tube station car parks Bikes on public transport. Bakerloo Special service.
A sign displaying the trademark roundel logo of the London Underground outside a subway station in London. © Thinkstock Images/JupiterimagesThe London Underground was proposed by Charles Pearson, a city solicitor, as part of a city improvement plan shortly after the opening of the in 1843. After 10 years of discussion, Parliament authorized the construction of 3.75 miles (6 km) of underground railway between Farringdon Street and Bishop’s Road,.
Work on the Metropolitan Railway began in 1860 by cut-and-cover methods—that is, by making trenches along the streets, giving them brick sides, providing girders or a brick arch for the roof, and then restoring the roadway on top. 10, 1863, the line was opened, using steam locomotives that burned coke and, later, coal. Despite sulfurous fumes, the line was a success from its opening, carrying 9.5 million passengers in the first year of its existence.
A train departing from a London Underground subway station. © Philip Lange/Shutterstock.comIn 1866 the and Southwark Subway Company (later the City and South London Railway) began work on the “tube” line, using a developed by J.H. The tunnels were driven at a depth sufficient to avoid interference with building foundations or works, and there was no disruption of street traffic. The original plan called for cable operation, but electric traction was substituted before the line was opened. Operation began on this first electric underground railway in 1890 with a uniform fare of twopence for any journey on the 3-mile (5-km) line.
In 1900, an American railway magnate, arrived in London, and he was subsequently responsible for the construction of more tube railways and for the electrification of the cut-and-cover lines. The London Underground name first appeared in 1908. Stations functioned as air-raid shelters during World Wars I and II, with the tunnels of the unused Aldwych spur line housing from the. Workers excavating a “tube” for the London Underground with the help of a tunneling shield, c. Mary Evans Picture LibraryThe London Underground was nationalized in 1948 under the of the London Transport Executive. Over the next half century, new lines were constructed, steam locomotives were completely replaced by electric ones, and new safety measures were introduced (including an automated announcement warning passengers to “mind the gap” between the train and the platform).
In 2003 management of the Underground passed to Transport for London, a public entity that provides the Underground with human resources, such as conductors and station personnel. As part of a partnership scheme with the private sector, outside companies maintain the physical of the Underground, including the stations, tracks, and railcars.