Londan underground free essay sample

TheLondon Undergroundis a tube system functioning a big portion of Greater London and neighboring countries of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the UK. It is the universe s oldest belowground railroad. It was besides the first belowground railroad to run electric trains. It is normally referred to as the Undergroundor the Tube # 8212 ; the latter derivation from the form of the system s deep-bore tunnels # 8212 ; although about 55 % of the web is above land. The earlier lines of the present London Underground web, which were built by assorted private companies, became portion of an integrated conveyance system ( which excluded the chief line railroads ) in 1933 with the creative activity of the London Passenger Transport Board ( LPTB ) , more normally known by its shortened name: London Transport . The belowground web became a individual entity when London Underground Limited ( LUL ) was formed by the UK authorities in 1985. Since 2003 LUL has been a entirely owned subordinate of Transport for London ( TfL ) , the statutory corporation responsible for most facets of the conveyance system in Greater London, which is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London. The Underground has 270 Stationss and about 400 kilometers ( 250 stat mis ) of path, doing it the longest tube system in the universe by path length, [ 6 ]and one of the most served in footings of Stationss. In 2007, over one billion rider journeys were recorded. The tubing map, with its conventional non-geographical layout and colour-coded lines, is considered a design authoritative, and many other conveyance maps worldwide have been influenced by it. History History Chief article: History of the London Underground Railway building in the United Kingdom began in the early nineteenth century. By 1854 six separate railroad terminuss had been built merely outside the Centre of London: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King s Cross, Bishopsgate and Waterloo. At this point, merely Fenchurch Street Station was located in the existent City of London. Traffic congestion in the metropolis and the environing countries had increased significantly in this period, partially due to the demand for rail travelers to finish their journeys into the metropolis Centre by route. The thought of constructing an belowground railroad to associate the City of London with the mainline terminuss had foremost been proposed in the 1830s, but it was non until the 1850s that the thought was taken earnestly as a solution to the traffic congestion jobs. The first resistance railways The first resistance railroads In 1854 an Act of Parliament was passed O.K.ing the building of an belowground railroad between Paddington Station and Farringdon Street via King s Cross which was to be called the Metropolitan Railway. The Great Western Railway ( GWR ) gave fiscal backup to the undertaking when it was agreed that a junction would be built associating the belowground railroad with their mainline end point at Paddington. GWR besides agreed to plan particular trains for the new subterraneous railroad. Construction was delayed for several old ages due to a deficit of financess. The fact that this undertaking got under manner at all was mostly due to the lobbying of Charles Pearson, who was Solicitor to the City of London Corporation at the clip. Pearson had supported the thought of an belowground railroad in London for several old ages. He advocated programs for the destruction of the unhygienic slums which would be replaced by new adjustment for their dwellers in the suburbs, with the new railroad supplying transit to their topographic points of work in the metropolis Centre. Although he was neer straight involved in the running of the Metropolitan Railway, he is widely credited as being one of the first true visionaries behind the construct of belowground railroads. And in 1859 it was Pearson who persuaded the City of London Corporation to assist fund the strategy. Work eventually began in February 1860, under the counsel of head applied scientist John Fowler. Pearson died before the work was completed. The Metropolitan Railway opened on 10 January 1863. [ 4 ]Within a few months of opening it was transporting over 26,000 riders a twenty-four hours. [ 8 ]The Hammersmith and City Railway was opened on 13 June 1864 between Hammersmith and Paddington. Services were ab initio operated by GWR between Hammersmith and Farringdon Street. By April 1865 the Metropolitan had taken over the service. On 23 December 1865 the Metropolitan s eastern extension to Moorgate Street opened. Later in the decennary other subdivisions were opened to Swiss Cottage, South Kensington and Addison Road, Kensington ( now known as Kensington Olympia ) . The railroad had ab initio been double gage, leting for the usage of GWR s signature wide gage turn overing stock and the more widely used standard gage stock. Disagreements with GWR had forced the Metropolitan to exchange to standard gage in 1863 after GWR withdrew all its stock from the railroad. These differences were subsequently patched up, nevertheless wide g age was wholly withdrawn from the railroad in March 1869. On 24 December 1868, the Metropolitan District Railway began runing services between South Kensington and Westminster utilizing Metropolitan Railway trains and passenger cars. The company, which shortly became known as the District , was foremost incorporated in 1864 to finish an Inner Circle railroad around London in concurrence with the Metropolitan. This was portion of a program to construct both an Inner Circle line and Outer Circle line around London. A ferocious competition shortly developed between the District and the Metropolitan. This badly delayed the completion of the Inner Circle undertaking as the two companies competed to construct far more financially moneymaking railroads in the suburbs of London. The London and North Western Railway ( LNWR ) began running their Outer Circle service from Broad Street via Willesden Junction, Addison Road and Earl s Court to Mansion House in 1872. The Inner Circle was non completed until 1884, with the Metropolitan and the District jointly running services. In the interim, the District had finished its path between West Brompton and Blackfriars in 1870, with an interchange with the Metropolitan at South Kensington. In 1877, it began running its ain services from Hammersmith to Richmond, on a line which had originally opened by the London A ; South Western Railway ( LSWR ) in 1869. The District so opened a new line from Turnham Green to Ealing in 1879 [ 9 ]and extended its West Brompton subdivision to Fulham in 1880. Over the same decennary the Metropolitan was extended to Harrow-on-the-Hill station in the north-west. The early tunnels were dug chiefly utilizing cut-and-cover building methods. This caused widespread break and required the destruction of several belongingss on the surface. The first trains were steam-hauled, which required effectual airing to the surface. Ventilation shafts at assorted points on the path allowed the engines to throw out steam and convey fresh air into the tunnels. One such blowhole is at Leinster Gardens, W2. [ 10 ]In order to continue the ocular features in what is still a comfortable street, a five-foot-thick ( 1.5 m ) concrete fa # 231 ; fruit drink was constructed to resemble a echt house frontage. On 7 December 1869 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway ( LB A ; SCR ) started runing a service between Wapping and New Cross Gate on the East London Railway ( ELR ) utilizing the Thames Tunnel designed by Marc Brunel, who designed the radical tunnelling shield method which made its building non merely possible, but safer, and completed by his boy Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This had opened in 1843 as a prosaic tunnel, but in 1865 it was purchased by the ELR ( a pool of six railroad companies: the Great Eastern Railway ( GER ) ; London, Brighton and South Coast Railway ( LB A ; SCR ) ; London, Chatham and Dover Railway ( LCDR ) ; South Eastern Railway ( SER ) ; Metropolitan Railway ; and the Metropolitan District Railway ) and converted into a railroad tunnel. In 1884 the District and the Metropolitan began to run services on the line. By the terminal of the 1880s, belowground railroads reached Chesham on the Metropolitan, Hounslow, Wimbledon and Whitechapel on the District and New Cross on the East London Railway. By the terminal of the nineteenth century, the Metropolitan had extended its lines far outside of London to Aylesbury, Verney Junction and Brill, making new suburbs along the path # 8212 ; subsequently publicised by the company as Metro-land. Right up until the 1930s the company maintained aspirations to be considered as a chief line instead than an urban railroad. The first tubing lines The first tubing lines Following progresss in the usage of burrowing shields, electric grip and deep-level tunnel designs, subsequently railroads were built even further underground. This caused much less break at land degree and it was hence cheaper and preferred to the cut-and-cover building method. The City A ; South London Railway ( C A ; SLR, now portion of the Northern Line ) opened in 1890, between Stockwell and the now closed original end point at King William Street. It was the first deep-level electrically operated railroad in the universe. By 1900 it had been extended at both terminals, to Clapham Common in the South and Moorgate Street ( via a recreation ) in the North. The 2nd such railroad, the Waterloo and City Railway, opened in 1898. It was built and run by the London and South Western Railway. On 30 July 1900 the Central London Railway ( now known as the Central Line ) was opened, runing services from Bank to Shepherd s Bush. It was nicknamed the Twopenny Tube for its level menu and cylindrical tunnels ; the tubing moniker was finally transferred to the Underground system as a whole. An interchange with the C A ; SLR was provided at Bank. Construction had besides begun in August 1898 on the Baker Street A ; Waterloo Railway. However work on this railroad came to a arrest 18 months after it began when financess ran out. Integration Integration In the early twentieth century the presence of six independent operators running different Underground lines caused riders significant incommodiousness ; in many topographic points riders had to walk some distance above land to alter between lines. The costs associated with running such a system were besides heavy, and as a consequence many companies looked to moneymans who could give them the money they needed to spread out into the moneymaking suburbs every bit good as electrify the earlier steam operated lines. The most outstanding of these was Charles Yerkes, an American baron who secured the right to construct the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway ( CCE A ; HR ) on 1 October 1900. In March 1901, he efficaciously took control of the District and this enabled him to organize the Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company ( MDET ) on 15 July. Through this he acquired the Great Northern A ; Strand Railway and the Brompton A ; Piccadilly Circus Railway in September 1901, the building of which had already been authorised by Parliament, together with the moribund Baker Street A ; Waterloo Railway in March 1902. On 9 April the MDET evolved into the Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd ( UERL ) . The UERL besides owned three ropeway companies and went on to purchase the London General Omnibus Company, making an administration conversationally known as the Combine which went on to rule belowground railroad building in London until the 1930s. With the fiscal backup of Yerkes, the District opened its South Harrow subdivision in 1903 and completed its nexus to the Metropolitan s Uxbridge subdivision at Rayners Lane in 1904 # 8212 ; although services to Uxbridge on the District did non get down until 1910 due to yet another dissension with the Metropolitan. By the terminal of 1905, all District Railway and Inner Circle services were run by electric trains. The Baker Street A ; Waterloo Railway opened in 1906, shortly branding itself the Bakerloo, and by 1907 it had been extended to Edgware Road in the North and Elephant A ; Castle in the South. The freshly named Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, uniting the two undertakings acquired by MDET in September 1901, besides opened in 1906. With tunnels at an impressive deepness of 200 pess below the surface, it ran from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith ; a individual station subdivision to Strand ( subsequently renamed Aldwych ) was added in 1907. In the same twelvemonth the CCE A ; HR opened from Charing Cross to Camden Town, with two northbound subdivisions, one to Golders Green and one to Highgate ( now Archway ) . Independent ventures did go on in the early portion of the twentieth century. The independent Great Northern A ; City Railway opened in 1904 between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. It was the lone tubing line of sufficient diameter to be capable of managing chief line stock, and it was originally intended to be portion of a chief line railroad. However money shortly ran out and the path remained separate from the chief line web until the seventiess. The C A ; SLR was besides extended due norths to Euston by 1907. In early 1908, in an attempt to increase rider Numberss, the belowground railroad operators agreed to advance their services jointly as the Underground , printing new adverts and making a free promotion map of the web for the intent. The map featured a cardinal labelling the Bakerloo Railway, the Central London Railway, the City A ; South London Railway, the District Railway, the Great Northern A ; City Railway, the Hampstead Railway ( the shortened name of the CCE A ; HR ) , the Metropolitan Railway and the Piccadilly Railway. Some other railroads appeared on the map but with less prominence than the aforesaid lines. These included portion of the ELR ( although the map was nt large plenty to suit in the whole line ) and the Waterloo and City Railway. As the latter was owned by a chief line railroad company it was nt included in this early stage of integrating. As portion of the procedure, The Underground name appeared on Stationss for the first clip and electric ticket-issuin g machines were besides introduced. This was followed in 1913 by the first visual aspect of the celebrated circle and horizontal saloon symbol, known as the roundel , [ 12 ]designed by Edward Johnston. On 1 January 1913 the UERL absorbed two other independent tubing lines, the C A ; SLR and the Central London Railway. As the Combine expanded, merely the Metropolitan stayed off from this procedure of integrating, retaining its aspiration to be considered as a chief line railroad. Proposals were put frontward for a amalgamation between the two companies in 1913 but the program was rejected by the Metropolitan. In the same twelvemonth the company asserted its independency by purchasing out the hard currency strapped Great Northern and City Railway. It besides sought a character of its ain. The Metropolitan Surplus Lands Committee had been formed in 1887 to develop adjustment alongside the railroad and in 1919 Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Ltd. was founded to capitalize on the post-World War One demand for lodging. This ensured that the Metropolitan would retain an independent image until the creative activity of London Transport in 1933. The Metropolitan besides sought to electrify its lines. The District and the Metropolitan had agreed to utilize the low electromotive force District of Columbia system for the Inner Circle, consisting two electric tracks to power the trains, back in 1901. At the start of 1905 electric trains began to work the Uxbridge subdivision and from 1 November 1906 electric engines took trains every bit far as Wembley Park where steam trains took over. This conversion point was moved to Harrow on 19 July 1908. The Hammersmith A ; City subdivision had besides been upgraded to electric working on 5 November 1906. The electrification of the ELR followed on 31 March 1913, the same twelvemonth as the gap of its extension to Whitechapel and Shoreditch. Following the Grouping Act of 1921, which merged all the hard currency strapped chief line railroads into four companies ( therefore killing the original pool that had built the ELR ) , the Metropolitan agreed to run rider services on the line. The Bakerloo line extension to Queen s Park was completed in 1915, and the service extended to Watford Junction via the London and North Western Railway paths in 1917. The extension of the Central line to Ealing Broadway was delayed by the war until 1920. The major development of the 1920s was the integrating of the CCE A ; HR and the C A ; SLR and extensions to organize what was to go the Northern line. This necessitated expansion of the older parts of the C A ; SLR, which had been built on a modest graduated table. The integrating required impermanent closings during 1922 # 8212 ; 24. The Golders Green subdivision was extended to Edgware in 1924, and the southern terminal was extended to Morden in 1926. The Watford subdivision of the Metropolitan opened in 1925 and in the same twelvemonth electrification was extended to Rickmansworth. The last major work completed by the Metropolitan was the subdivision to Stanmore which opened in 1932. By 1933 the Combine had completed the Cockfosters subdivision of the Piccadilly Line, with through services running ( via realigned paths between Hammersmith and Acton Town ) to Hounslow West and Uxbridge. London Transport London Transport In 1933 the Combine, the Metropolitan and all the municipal and independent coach and tram projects were merged into the London Passenger Transport Board ( LPTB ) , a self-supporting and unsubsidised public corporation which came into being on 1 July 1933. The LPTB shortly became known as London Transport ( LT ) . Shortly after it was created, LT began the procedure of incorporating the belowground railroads of London into one web. All the separate railroads were given new names in order to go lines within it. A free map of these lines, designed by Harry Beck, was issued in 1933. It featured the District Line, the Bakerloo Line, the Piccadilly Line, the Edgware, Highgate and Morden Line, the Metropolitan Line, the Great Northern A ; City Line, the East London Line and the Central London Line. Normally regarded as a design classic, an updated version of this map is still in usage today. The Waterloo A ; City line was non included in this map as it was still owned by a chief line railroad ( the Southern Railway since 1923 ) and non LT. LT announced a strategy for the enlargement and modernization of the web entitled the New Works Programme, which had followed the proclamation of betterment proposals for the Metropolitan Line. This consisted of programs to widen some lines, to take over the operation of others from main-line railroad companies, and to electrify the full web. During the 1930s and 1940s, several subdivisions of main-line railroads were converted into surface lines of the Underground system. The oldest portion of today s Underground web is the Central line between Leyton and Loughton, which opened as a railroad seven old ages before the Underground itself. LT besides sought to abandon paths which made a important fiscal loss. Soon after the LPTB started operating, services to Verney Junction and Brill on the Metropolitan Railway were stopped. The renamed Metropolitan Line end point was moved to Aylesbury. The eruption of World War II delayed all the enlargement strategies. From mid-1940, the Blitz led to the usage of many Underground Stationss as shelters during air foraies and overnight. The governments ab initio tried to deter and forestall this, but subsequently supplied bunks, latrines, and providing installations. Subsequently in the war, eight London deep-level shelters were constructed under Stationss, apparently to be used as shelters ( each deep-level shelter could keep 8,000 people ) though programs were in topographic point to change over them for a new express line analogue to the Northern line after the war. Some Stationss ( now largely disused ) were converted into authorities offices: for illustration, Down Street was used for the central office of the Railway Executive Committee and was besides used for meetings of the War Cabinet before the Cabinet War Rooms were completed ; Brompton Road was used as a control room for anti-aircraft guns and the remains of the surface edifice are still used by London s University Royal Naval Unit ( URNU ) and University London Air Squadron ( ULAS ) . After the war one of the last Acts of the Apostless of the LPTB was to give the green light for the completion of the postponed Central Line extensions. The western extension to West Ruislip was completed in 1948, and the eastern extension to Epping in 1949 ; the single-line subdivision from Epping to Ongar was taken over and electrified in 1957. Nationalization Nationalization On 1 January 1948 London Transport was nationalised by the incumbent Labour authorities, together with the four staying chief line railroad companies, and incorporated into the operations of the British Transport Commission ( BTC ) . The LPTB was replaced by the London Transport Executive ( LTE ) . This brought the Underground under the remit of cardinal authorities for the first clip in its history. The execution of nationalised railroads was a move of necessity every bit good as political orientation. The chief line railroads had struggled to get by with a war economic system in the First World War and by the terminal of World War Two the four staying companies were on the brink of bankruptcy. Nationalization was the easiest manner to salvage the railroads in the short term and supply money to repair war clip harm. The BTC needfully prioritised the Reconstruction of its chief line railroads over the care of the Underground web. The unfinished parts of the New Works Programme were bit by bit shelved or postponed. However the BTC did empower the completion of the electrification of the web, seeking to replace steam engines on the parts of the system where they still operated. This stage of the programme was completed when the Metropolitan Line was electrified to Chesham in 1960. Steam engines were to the full withdrawn from London Underground rider services on 9 September 1961, when British Railwaies took over the operations of the Metropolitan line between Amersham and Aylesbury. The last steam shunting and cargo engine was withdrawn from service in 1971. [ 14 ] In 1963 the LTE was replaced by the London Transport Board, straight accountable to the Ministry of Transport. GLC Control On 1 January 1970, the Greater London Council ( GLC ) took over duty for London Transport. This period is possibly the most controversial in London s conveyance history, characterised by staff deficits and a terrible deficiency of support from cardinal authorities. In 1980 the Labour-led GLC began the Fares Fair undertaking, which increased local revenue enhancement in order to lower ticket monetary values. The run was ab initio successful and use of the Tube significantly increased. But serious expostulations to the policy came from the London Borough of Bromley, an country of London which has no Underground Stationss. The Council resented the subsidy as it would be of small benefit to its occupants. The council took the GLC to the Law Lords who ruled that the policy was illegal based on their reading of the Transport ( London ) Act 1969. They ruled that the Act stipulated that London Transport must be after, every bit far as was possible, to interrupt even. In line with this opini on, Fares Fair was hence reversed, taking to a 100 % addition in menus in 1982 and a subsequent diminution in rider Numberss. The dirt prompted Margaret Thatcher s Conservative Government to take the Underground from the GLC s control in 1984, a development that turned out to be a preliminary to the abolishment of the GLC in 1986. However the period saw the first existent post-war investing in the web with the gap of the carefully planned Victoria Line, which was built on a diagonal northeast-southwest alliance beneath Central London, integrating centralized signalling control and automatically goaded trains. It opened in phases between 1968 and 1971. The Piccadilly line was extended to Heathrow Airport in 1977, and the Jubilee line was opened in 1979, taking over portion of the Bakerloo line, with new tunnels between Baker Street and Charing Cross. There was besides one of import bequest from the Fares Fair strategy, the debut of ticket zones, which remain in usage today. London Regional Transport London Regional Transport In 1984 Margaret Thatcher s Conservative Government removed London Transport from the GLC s control, replacing it with London Regional Transport ( LRT ) on 19 June 1984 a statutory corporation for which the Secretary of State for Transport was straight responsible. The Government planned to modernize the system while cut downing its subsidy from taxpayers and ratepayers. As portion of this scheme London Underground Limited was set up on 1 April 1985 as a entirely owned subordinate of LRT to run the web. The forecast for LRT was good. Oliver Green, the so Curator of the London Transport Museum, wrote in 1987: In its first one-year study, London Underground Ltd was able to denote that more riders had used the system than of all time before. In 1985-86 the Underground carried 762 million riders good above its old record sum of 720 million in 1948. At the same clip costs have been significantly reduced with a new system of train inspection and repair and the debut of more driver-only operation. Work is good in manus on the transition of station booking offices to take the new Underground Ticketing System ( UTS ) and prototype tests for the following coevals of tubing trains ( 1990 ) stock started in late 1986. As the London Underground celebrates its hundred-and-twenty-fifth day of remembrance in 1988, the hereafter looks assuring. [ 15 ] However cost-cutting was non without its critics. At 19:30 on 18 November 1987 a fire swept through King s Cross St Pancras Undeground station, the busiest station on the web, killing 31 people. It subsequently turned out that the fire had started in an escalator shaft functioning the Piccadilly Line, which was burnt out along with the top degree ( entrywaies and ticket hall ) of the deep-level tubing station. The escalator on which the fire started had been built merely before World War II. The stairss and sides of the escalator were partially made of wood, intending that they burned rapidly and easy. Although smoke was banned on the subsurface subdivisions of the London Underground in February 1985 ( a effect of the Oxford Circus fire ) , the fire was most likely caused by a commuter flinging a combustion lucifer, which fell down the side of the escalator onto the running path ( Fennell 1988, p. 111 ) . The running path had non been cleaned in some clip and was covered in lubricati ng oil and hempen debris. The Member of Parliament for the country, Frank Dobson, informed the House of Commons that the figure of transit employees at the station, which handled 200,000 riders every twenty-four hours at the clip, had been cut from 16 to ten, and the cleaning staff from 14 to two. [ 16 ]The tragic event led to the abolishment of wooden escalators at all Underground Stationss and pledges of greater investing. In 1994, with the denationalization of British Rail, LRT took control of the Waterloo and City line, integrating it into the Underground web for the first clip. This twelvemonth besides saw the terminal of services on the small used Epping-Ongar subdivision of the Central Line and the Aldwych subdivision of the Piccadilly Line after it was agreed that necessary care and upgrade work would non be cost effectual. In 1999 the Jubilee line extension to Stratford in London s East End was completed. This program included the gap of a wholly refurbished interchange station at Westminster. The Jubilee line s old terminal platforms at Charing Cross were closed but maintained operable for exigencies. Conveyance for London Transport for London Chief article: Conveyance for London Conveyance for London ( TfL ) was created in 2000 as the integrated organic structure responsible for London s conveyance system. It replaced London Regional Transport. It assumed control of London Underground Limited in July 2003. [ 21 ] TfL is portion of the Greater London Authority and is constituted as a statutory corporation regulated under local authorities finance regulations. [ 22 ]It has three subordinates: London Transport Insurance ( Guernsey ) Ltd. , the TfL Pension Fund Trustee Co. Ltd. and Transport Trading Ltd ( TTL ) . TTL has six wholly-owned subordinates, one of which is London Underground Limited. The TfL Board is appointed by the Mayor of London. The Mayor besides sets the construction and degree of public conveyance menus in London. However the daily running of the corporation is left to the Commissioner of Transport for London. The current Commissioner is Peter Hendy. [ 23 ] The Mayor is responsible for bring forthing an integrated conveyance scheme for London and for confer withing the GLA, TfL, local councils and others on the scheme. The Mayor is besides responsible for puting TfL s budget. The GLA is consulted on the Mayor s conveyance scheme, and inspects and approves the Mayor s budget. It is able to cite the Mayor and senior staff to account for TfL s public presentation. London TravelWatch, a organic structure appointed by and describing to the Assembly, deals with ailments about conveyance in London. Infrastructure Infrastructure Chief article: London Underground substructure Stations and lines Stations and lines The London Underground s 11 lines are the Bakerloo line, Central line, Circle line, District line, Hammersmith A ; City line, Jubilee line, Metropolitan line, Northern line, Piccadilly line, Victoria line, and Waterloo A ; City line. Until 2007 there was a 12th line, the East London line, but this has closed for transition work and will be transferred to the London Overground when it reopens in 2010. The Underground serves 268 Stationss by rail ; an extra six Stationss that were on the East London line are served by Underground replacing coachs. Fourteen Underground Stationss are outside Greater London, of which five ( Amersham, Chalfont A ; Latimer, Chesham, Chorleywood, Epping ) are beyond the M25 London Orbital motorway. Of the 32 London boroughs, six ( Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Lewisham and Sutton ) are non served by the Underground web, while Hackney merely has Old Street and Manor House on its boundaries. Zone 1 ( cardinal zone ) of the Underground ( and DLR ) web in a geographically more accurate layout than the usual Tube map, utilizing the same manner. Underground trains come in two sizes, larger subsurface trains and smaller tubing trains. A Metropolitan line A Stock train ( left ) passes a Piccadilly line 1973 Stock train ( right ) in the turnout at Rayners Lane Lines on the Underground can be classified into two types: subsurface and deep-level. The subsurface lines were dug by the cut-and-cover method, with the paths running approximately 5 m ( 16 ft 5 in ) below the surface. The deep-level or tubing lines, bored utilizing a tunnelling shield, run approximately 20 m ( 65 ft 7 in ) below the surface ( although this varies well ) , with each path in a separate tunnel. These tunnels can hold a diameter every bit little as 3.56 m ( 11 ft 8 in ) and the loading gage is therefore well smaller than on the subsurface lines. Lines of both types normally emerge onto the surface outside the cardinal country. While the tubing lines are for the most portion self-contained, the subsurface lines are portion of an interrelated web: each portions track with at least two other lines. The subsurface agreement is similar to the New York City Subway, which besides runs separate lines over shared paths. Rolling stock and electrification Rolling stock and electrification 1996 Stock trains at Stratford Market Depot The Underground uses turn overing stock built between 1960 and 2005. Stock on subsurface lines is identified by a missive ( such as A Stock, used on the Metropolitan line ) , while tube stock is identified by the twelvemonth in which it was designed ( for illustration, 1996 Stock, used on the Jubilee line ) . All lines are worked by a individual type of stock except the District line, which uses both C and D Stock. Two types of stock are presently being developed # 8212 ; 2009 Stock for the Victoria line and S stock for the subsurface lines, with the Metropolitan line A Stock being replaced foremost. Rollout of both is expected to get down about 2009. In add-on to the Electric Multiple Units described above, there is technology stock, such as ballast trains and brake new waves, identified by a 1-3 missive prefix so a figure. The Underground is one of the few webs in the universe that uses a four-rail system. The extra rail carries the electrical return that on third-rail and overhead webs is provided by the running tracks. On the Underground a top-contact 3rd rail is beside the path, energised at +420 V DC, and a top-contact 4th rail is centrally between the running tracks, at -210 V DC, which combine to supply a grip electromotive force of 630 V DC. In instances where the lines are shared with mainline trains which use a three-rail system, the 3rd rail is set at +630 V, and the forth rail at 0 V DC. Cooling Cooling In summer, temperatures on parts of the London Underground can go really uncomfortable due to its deep and ill ventilated tubing tunnels: temperatures every bit high as 47 C ( 117 F ) were reported in the 2006 European heat moving ridge. Posters may be observed on the Underground web reding that riders carry a bottle of H2O to assist maintain cool. Planned betterments and enlargements Planned betterments and enlargements There are many planned betterments to the London Underground. A new station opened on the Piccadilly line at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 on 27 March 2008 and is the first extension of the London Underground since 1999.http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground cite_note-28 Each line is being upgraded to better capacity and dependability, with new computerised signalling, automatic train operation ( ATO ) , track replacing and station renovation, and, where needed, new turn overing stock. A test programme for a groundwater chilling system in Victoria station took topographic point in 2006 and 2007 ; it aimed to find whether such a system would be executable and effectual if in widespread usage. A test of nomadic phone coverage on the Waterloo A ; City line purposes to find whether coverage can be extended across the remainder of the Underground web. Although non portion of London Underground, the Crossrail strategy will supply a new path across cardinal London integrated with the tubing web. The long proposed Chelsea-Hackney line, which is planned to get down operation in 2025, may be portion of the London Underground, which would intend it would give the web a new Northeast to South transverse London line to supply more interchanges with other lines and relieve overcrowding on other lines. However it is still on the pulling board. It was foremost proposed in 1901 and has been in be aftering since so. In 2007 the line was passed over to Cross London Rail Ltd, the current developers of Crossrail. Therefore, the line may be either portion of the London Underground web or the National Rail web. There are advantages and disadvantages for both. The Croxley Rail Link proposal envisages deviating the Metropolitan line Watford subdivision to Watford Junction station along a obsolete railroad path. The undertaking awaits funding from Hertfordshire County Council and the Department for Transport, and remains at the proposal phase. London Mayor Boris Johnson suggested he may be believing of widening the Bakerloo line to Lewisham, as South London lacks Underground lines. Traveling Traveling The Underground uses TfL s Travelcard zones to cipher menus. Greater London is divided into 6 zones ; Zone 1 is the most cardinal, with a boundary merely beyond the Circle line, and Zone 6 is the outermost and includes London Heathrow Airport. Stations on the Metropolitan line outside Greater London are in Zones 7-9. [ 34 ] Travelcard zones 7 # 8211 ; 9 besides use on the Euston-Watford Junction line ( portion of the London Overground ) every bit far as Watford High Street. Watford Junction is outside these zones and particular menus apply. There are staffed ticket offices, some unfastened for limited periods merely, and ticket machines useable at any clip. Some machines that sell a limited scope of tickets accept coins merely, other touch-screen machines accept coins and bills, and normally give alteration. These machines besides accept major recognition and debit cards: some newer machines accept cards merely. More late, TfL has introduced the Oyster card, a smartcard with an embedded contactless RFID bit, that travelers can obtain, charge with recognition, and utilize to pay for travel. Like Travelcards they can be used on the Underground, coachs, ropewaies and the Docklands Light Railway. The Oyster card is cheaper to run than hard currency ticketing or the older-style magnetic-strip-based Travelcards, and the Underground is promoting riders to utilize Oyster cards alternatively of Travelcards and hard currency ( on coachs ) by implementing important monetary value differences. Oyster-based Travelcards can be used on National Rail throughout London. Pay as you go is available on a restricted, but increasing, figure of paths. For tourers or other non-residents, non necessitating to go in the forenoon peak period, the all twenty-four hours travelcard is the best ticketing option available. These are available from any belowground station. These cost around # 163 ; 5.50 and let limitless travel on the web from 9:30am onwards for the remainder of the twenty-four hours. This provides first-class value for money and a immense economy sing one individual journey on the web can be near to # 163 ; 5. Travel cards for multiple yearss are besides available. Punishment menus and menu equivocation Penalty menus and menu equivocation In add-on to automatic and staffed ticket Gatess, the Underground is patrolled by both uniformed and plain-clothes ticket inspectors with handheld Oyster card readers. Passengers going without a ticket valid for their full journey are required to pay a # 163 ; 50 ( or # 163 ; 25 if paid within 21 yearss ) punishment menu and can be prosecuted for menu equivocation under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 under which they are capable to a mulct of up to # 163 ; 1,000, or three months imprisonment. Oyster card pre-pay users who have failed to touch in at the start of their journey are charged the maximal hard currency menu ( # 163 ; 4, or # 163 ; 5 at some National Rail Stationss ) upon touching out. In add-on, an Oyster card user who has failed to touch in at the start of their journey and who is detected mid-journey ( i.e.on a train ) by an Inspector is now apt to a punishment menu of # 163 ; 50, which is reduced to # 163 ; 25 if paid within 21 yearss. No # 163 ; 4 maximal charge will be applied to their finish as the inspector will use an exit item to their card. While the Conditions of Carriage require period Travelcard holders to touch in and touch out at the start and terminal of their journey, any Oyster card user who has a valid period Travelcard covering their full journey is non apt to pay a Punishment menu where they have non touched in. Neither the Conditions of Carriage or Schedule 17 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, which shows how and when Penalty fares can be issued, would let the issue of a Penalty menu to a traveler who had already paid the correct menu for their journey. Delaies Delaies Harmonizing to statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the mean commuter on the Metropolitan line wasted three yearss, 10 hours and 25 proceedingss in 2006 due to holds ( non including missed connexions ) . Between 17 September 2006 and 14 October 2006, figures show that 211 train services were delayed by more than 15 proceedingss. Passengers are entitled to a refund if their journey is delayed by 15 proceedingss or more due to fortunes within the control of TfL. Accessibility Accessibility Westminster station # 8212 ; extended constructions are required to back up Portcullis House above. Handiness by people with mobility jobs was non considered when most of the system was built, and most older Stationss are unaccessible to handicapped people. More recent Stationss were designed for handiness, but retrofitting handiness characteristics to old Stationss is at best prohibitively expensive and technically highly hard, and frequently impossible. Even when there are already escalators or lifts, there are frequently stairss between the lift or escalator landings and the platforms. Most Stationss on the surface have at least a short flight of stepss to derive entree from street degree, and the great bulk of below-ground Stationss require usage of stepss or some of the system s 410 escalators ( each traveling at a velocity of 145 foot ( 44 m ) per minute, about 1.65 miles per hour ( 3 kilometers per hour ) ) . There are besides some drawn-out walks and farther flights of stairss required to derive entree to platforms. The exigency steps at Covent Garden station have 193 stairss ( the equivalent mounting a 15-storey edifice ) to make the issue, [ 40 ]so riders are advised to utilize the lifts as mounting the stairss can be unsafe. The escalators in Underground Stationss include some of the longest in Europe, and all are made-to-order. The longest escalator is at Angel station, 60 m ( 197 foot ) long, with a perpendicular rise of 27.5 m ( 90 foot ) . [ 1 ]They run 20 hours a twenty-four hours, 364 yearss a twelvemonth, with 95 % of them operational at any one clip, and can get by with 13,000 riders per hr. Convention and signage stipulate that people utilizing escalators on the Underground base on the right-hand side so as non to blockade those who walk past them on the left. TfL produces a map bespeaking which Stationss are accessible, and since 2004 line maps indicate with a wheelchair symbol those Stationss that provide step-free entree from street degree. Step height from platform to train is up to 300 millimeter ( 11.8 in ) , and there can be a big spread between the train and curved platforms. Merely the Jubilee Line Extension is wholly accessible. TfL plans that by 2020 there should be a web of over 100 to the full accessible Stationss, consists of those late built or rebuilt, and a smattering of suburban Stationss that happen to hold flat entree, along with selected key Stationss , which will be rebuilt. These cardinal Stationss have been chosen due to high use, interchange potency, and geographic spread, so that up to 75 % of journeys will be accomplishable step-free. Overcrowding Overcrowding on the Underground has been of concern for old ages and is really much the norm for most commuters particularly during the forenoon and eventide haste hours. Stations which peculiarly have a job include Camden Town station and Covent Garden, which have entree limitations at certain times. [ 41 ]Restrictions are introduced at other Stationss when necessary. Several Stationss have been rebuilt to cover with overcrowding issues, with Clapham Common and Clapham North on the Northern line being the last leftover Stationss with a individual narrow platform with paths on both sides. On peculiarly busy occasions, such as football lucifers, British Transport Police may be present to assist with overcrowding. On 24 September 2007 the entireness of King s Cross resistance station was closed due to overcrowding . Some Stationss are closed or are made exit-only Stationss due to overcrowding in extremum periods. At other times trains merely do nt halt at the overcrowded station and travel onto the following closest station, in topographic points where there is another station within walking distance. Overcrowding can besides be limited by temporarily forbiding riders from go throughing through ticket Gatess to the platforms at some Stationss. Harmonizing to a 2003 House of Commons study, commuters faced a day-to-day injury and were forced to go in unbearable conditions . Safety Safety Accidents on the Underground web, which carries around a billion riders a twelvemonth, are rare. There is one fatal accident for every 300 million journeys. There are several safety warnings given to riders, such as the mind the spread proclamation and the regular proclamations for riders to maintain behind the xanthous line. Relatively few accidents are caused by overcrowding on the platforms, and staff proctor platforms and passageways at busy times prevent people come ining the system if they become overcrowded. Most human deaths on the web are suicides. Most platforms at deep tubing Stationss have cavities beneath the path, originally constructed to help drainage of H2O from the platforms, but they besides help forestall decease or serious hurt when a rider falls or leaps in forepart of a train.