760 



RAPID-TRANSIT SUBWAYS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES. 



RAPID TRANSIT IN LONDON. 



Owing to the enonnous cost of constructing underground roads, a 

 large daily traffic is essential to successful operation. This condition 

 appeared first in London. AVlien railroads were invented and their 

 utility generally recognized, London was already a city of consider- 

 able size (population in 1851, 2,363.274). Its ancient streets w^ere 

 considered too sacred to be polluted by a noisy monster, and the im- 

 ])ortance of rapid communication between the central portion of the 

 city and suburban areas w^as not yet recognized. Thus the first steam 

 railroads were halted at the threshold of the inner city and made to 

 build their terminal stations some distance from the center of com- 

 mercial activity. With the groAvth of the city and the giving over of 

 certain portions almost exclusively to business, some means of com- 



1 Tlic Ci'iitrul Loijdi.n tviiiin 1 



munication between the various depots became necessary. Steam 

 surface roads w^ere out of the question ; electricity and cable traction 

 had not been invented, and horse cars were too slow. Underground 

 steam roads seemed the only alternative. 



For years the constructiou of tlu>se lines went on, until at pres- 

 ent there are 300 miles and upward of 270 stations within a ()-mile 

 radius of Charing Cross. These railways probably carry over 300,- 

 000,000 passengers annually, and, incbuUng the onniibus, tramway, 

 cal). and steamer ])assengers, the total approaches very nearly to 

 1,000,000,000 persons annually. 



The unpleasant features of travel in llie " undergi-ound '' — the 

 dingy entrances, the dark tuiniels, the dirty, crowded, and diudy 

 lighted cars, the suli)hui'ous fumes from the engines, the dirt-laden 

 air — were appreciated from the start and grew woi-se as the traffic 

 increased. The lines Avei'e mostly near the surface, and openings 

 were provided at short intervals to pei'uiit the smoke, steam, and 



