London Underground History

The quest for an alternative form of transport began in the 1830s. The steam engine was a relatively new invention then and the idea of using it in some 'covered' transportation was being toyed around with by the government. It was only in the 1850s, that the government became serious about constructing a subterranean transport to solve the heavy traffic problems of London. The first initiative was taken by a gentleman named Charles Pearson, whose initiative led to the passing of a bill in the House of Commons, for an underground transport. The approval was granted for the first connecting line to be set up between the Paddington and Farringdon stations. Since then, it has been a story of trials, technology and triumph.

The Need
The central London area was out of bounds for all trains approaching the capital. London travelers had to get down or board a train from the far out stations of Paddington and Farringdon terminals. Therefore, the need for a rapid transport from different parts of the city to the main stations was increasingly felt. The first project for an underground station took a lot of convincing and appealing to the investors to lend money for the project. A cut-and-cover line was laid between Paddington and King's Cross station and an open cutting line was built between King's Cross and Farringdon station. After lot of trials and encountering lot of obstacles, the first line was thrown open for public use on 10th January, 1863. Over 30,000 passengers used it on the first day. The Metropolitan line proved to be a huge hit with more than 11 million people commuting through the smoky and foul-smelling conditions of the London Underground.

Journey Through History
The biggest beneficiaries of the system were the low-wage laborers who had to walk a great distance to their work place in the city. The slums in the city had clogged its already busy places. The advent of the new commuting system meant that people could stay in the comparatively low cost suburbs and travel to work daily. It had a significant impact on London's neighboring districts. For instance, when the Northern Line of the Underground reached Morden village, it was inhabited by a mere 1000 people. Five years down the line, its population leaped to 12,000. The Metropolitan Line was followed by the District Line which operated on the other segment of the city. Both of these were joined by the Circle Line, which in 1905, became the first electrified line.

However, there was a great deal of animosity between the two operators and they shunned each others network. A person who needed to pay for a seven stop journey ended up paying for a 20 stop one, due to their separate travel requirements. The lines were totally incongruent in operation, with unfair management like haphazard timings of connecting trains and two different stations at the same place for each line. What could have been one of the most efficient forms of transport in the history, changed into a chaotic and an ill-managed network. The completion of work on the Circle line was the last underground network built by the cut-and-cover method. Engineering advances in electrified lines and the new-age boring and tunneling machines allowed deep-rail tracks to be built right below the most crowded London district. The first line to use the tunneling mechanism was the City and South London Line from City to the Elephant and Castle place.

There was a splurge of lines towards the end of the 19th century. Charles Tyson, an American financier had invested a huge amount of money in the London Underground and built the last four lines of the Circle segment. He had financed the first major initiative, to link the various segments of London Underground. The Central Line developed by Yerkes, a businessman who attracted lot of investment for the 'tube', (tunneling led to the coining of this term for the Underground) provided the most sophisticated service to passengers of that time. It proved to be a landmark in the history of London Underground with 100,000 people being ferried up and down the city center with the best possible facilities.

Frank Pick, who began working for the Yerkes Underground Electric Railway Limited, (UERL) changed the face of the Underground in a big way. In tandem with the best designers, calligraphers and architects, Pick modernized the entire network. By 1934, a whopping 410 million passengers traveled in the tube per year. The iconic and brand status that London has garnered from its tube, speaks volumes of its magnificence. Recently though, it has been subjected to criticism due to frequent repair works, a worn out line and the soaring cost of travel. It has survived the London Fire, both the World Wars and the recent terrorist attacks, to emerge as the lifeline of the city. It is both loved and hated by the public, but there is no arguing the fact, that it is an ingenious creation.