London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.[5]
Not to be confused with London Overground.London Underground
11[1]
272 served[1] (262 owned)
3.15 million (January 2023)[2]
1.026 billion (2022/2023)[2]
10 January 1863
London Underground Limited
LT (National Rail)[3]
402 km (250 mi)[1]
- 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge (1863–pres.)
- 7 ft (2,134 mm) Brunel gauge (1863–1869)
33 km/h (21 mph)[4]
The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, opening on 10 January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway.[6] It is now part of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line.[7]
The network has expanded to 11 lines with 250 miles (400 km) of track.[8] However, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London; there are only 33 Underground stations south of the River Thames.[9] The system's 272 stations collectively accommodate up to 5 million passenger journeys a day.[10] In 2020/21 it was used for 296 million passenger journeys,[11] making it one of the world's busiest metro systems.
The system's first tunnels were built just below the ground, using the cut-and-cover method; later, smaller, roughly circular tunnels—which gave rise to its nickname, the Tube—were dug through at a deeper level.[12] Despite its name, only 45% of the system is under the ground: much of the network in the outer environs of London is on the surface.[8]
The early tube lines, originally owned by several private companies, were brought together under the Underground brand in the early 20th century, and eventually merged along with the sub-surface lines and bus services in 1933 to form London Transport under the control of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The current operator, London Underground Limited (LUL), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in London.[12] As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares.[13] The Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster card, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003.[14] Contactless bank card payments were introduced in 2014,[15] the first such use on a public transport system.[16]
The LPTB commissioned many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style.[17][18][19] The schematic Tube map, designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted a national design icon in 2006 and now includes other transport systems besides the Underground, such as the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, Thameslink, the Elizabeth line, and Tramlink. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and the Johnston typeface, created by Edward Johnston in 1916.
An early form of the roundel as used on the platform at Ealing Broadway
The form used today outside Westminster tube station
Michael Craig-Martin's 2016 roundel design
NO SMOKING signs using the roundel which are present only on the 1972 stock trains of the Bakerloo line
Research[edit]
The London Underground is frequently studied by academics because it is one of the largest, oldest, and most widely used systems of public transit in the world. Therefore, the transportation and complex network literatures include extensive information about the Tube system.
For London Underground passengers, research suggests that transfers are highly costly in terms of walk and wait times. Because these costs are unevenly distributed across stations and platforms, path choice analyses may be helpful in guiding upgrades and choice of new stations.[348] Routes on the Underground can also be optimized using a global network optimization approach, akin to routing algorithms for Internet applications.[349] Analysis of the Underground as a network may also be helpful for setting safety priorities, since the stations targeted in the 2005 London bombings were amongst the most effective for disrupting the transportation system.[350]
A study in March 2023 showed that over £1.3 million worth of mobile phones were stolen on the London Underground in 2022, more than the entire UK rail network combined.[351]
