49 2 History of Inland Transport 



head railways across the centre of London were even to be 

 thought of, while the cost of still more underground railways 

 of the " shallow " type already constructed was looked upon 

 as almost prohibitive, though underground any further London 

 lines would assuredly have to be. 



A way was found out of the difficulty by the construction 

 of deep-level iron tubes passing through the stratum of 

 clay underlying London, such tubes providing for lines of 

 railway along which trains to be worked by electricity could 

 pass between various stations in still larger tubes in 

 different parts of London and the suburbs. 



The first of these tube railways was projected by the City 

 and South London Railway Company, and received the 

 sanction of Parliament in 1884. The line was opened in 1890, 

 and with it London acquired the pioneer of those tube railways 

 which were to effect so revolutionary a change in her general 

 transport conditions. The Central London Railway followed, 

 in 1900, and since then London has been provided with a 

 network of tube railways, offering facilities for a more or less 

 complete interchange of traffic, north and south, and east and 

 west, both between themselves and in conjunction with the 

 termini of the main line steam railways. In this way move- 

 ment about and across London has been greatly facilitated. 

 Three of the new tubes, the Bakerloo, the Piccadilly and the 

 Hampstead have been united into one system by the London 

 Electric Railway Company, and, together with the earlier 

 District Railway and the London United Tramways, are under 

 the same control, with great advantage to everyone concerned, 

 while the original underground lines the Metropolitan and 

 the Metropolitan District have been electrified and vastly 

 improved. The disadvantages of " isolated projects " on 

 which successive Commissions the London Traffic Com- 

 mission among the number have insisted so strongly have 

 thus, to a certain extent, been met by the principle of com- 

 bination through private enterprise. No action has yet been 

 taken to carry out the recommendation made in June, 1905, 

 in the Report of the Royal Commission on London Traffic, in 

 regard to the formation of a London Traffic Board, though a 

 useful work is being done by the London Traffic Branch 

 appointed by the Board of Trade in August, 1907* " to 

 continue and supplement the work of the Royal Commission 



