760 



KAPID-TRANSIT SUBWAYS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES, 



RAPID TRANSIT IN LONDON. 



Owing to the enormous cost of constrnetino: undergrounfl roads, a 

 large daily traffic is essential to successful operation. This condition 

 appeared first in London. Allien railroads were invented and their 

 utility generall}' recognized, London was already a city of consider- 

 able size (population in 1851, 2.3()3.2T4). Its ancient streets Avere 

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

 portance of rai)id communication between the central portion of the 

 city and suburban areas was not yet recognized. Thus tlie 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 })ortions almost exclusively to business, some means of coin- 



FlG. 1.— The Central Londou tuuuel. 



munication between the various depots became necessary. Steam 

 surface roads were 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 construction of these lines went on, until at. pres- 

 ent there are 300 miles and upward of 270 stations within a 6-mile 

 radius of Charing Cross. These railways ])r()bably carry over 300,- 

 000,000 passengers annually, and, including the omnibus, tramway, 

 cab. and steamer ])assengers, the total a))proaches very nearly to 

 1,000,000,000 persons annually. 



The unpleasant f<'atui'es of travel in the " underground " — the 

 dingy entrances, (he daik tunnels, the dirty, crowded, and dindy 

 lighted cars, the sulphuj'ous fumes from the engines, the dirt-laden 

 air — were appi'cciated from the start and grew woi-se as the traffic 

 increased. The lines were mostly near the surface, and ()})enings 

 Averc j)rovided at short intervals to pci'mit the smoke, steam, and 



