transport: London Underground

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire in England. Managed by Transport for London (TfL), the network spans 11 lines and 250 miles (400 km) of track, serving 272 stations. While the system's nickname originates from its deep-level circular tunnels, only 45% of the network is underground, with the majority of the outer surface tracks located north of the River Thames. It is one of the busiest rapid transit networks in the world, accommodating over 1.2 billion passenger journeys annually in 2024–25. The network has its orig…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 72

The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that built a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The company struggled to fund the work, and construction did not begin until 1898. In 1900, work was hit by the financial collapse of its parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, through the fraud of Whitaker Wright, its main shareholder. In 1902, the BS&WR became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors. When first opened in 1906, the BS&WR's line s…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 72

The Glasgow Subway (Scottish Gaelic: Fo-rèile Ghlaschu, lit. 'Glasgow under-rail') is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world; after the Metropolitan Railway in London (1863) and the Budapest Metro (1896). It is also one of the very few railways in the world with a track running gauge of 4 ft (1,219 mm). Originally a cable railway, the subway was later electrified, but the double-track circular line has never been expanded. The line was originally known as the Glasgow District Subway, and was thus the first mass transit system to be known as a "subway"; it was later renamed Glasgow Subwa…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 72

The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London in 1900. The CLR's tunnels and stations form the central section of what became London Underground's Central line. The railway company was established in 1889, funding for construction was obtained in 1895 through a syndicate of financiers and work took place from 1896 to 1900. When opened, the CLR served 13 stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 9.14 kilometres (5.68 mi) between its western terminus at Shepherd's Bush and its eastern terminus at the Bank of England, with a depot and power station to the north of the western terminus…

Evidence: 23 • authority: 72

The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a shuttle line of the London Underground which runs between Waterloo and Bank stations with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hampshire arriving at Waterloo main line station and travelling forward to the City of London financial district. For this reason, the line has historically not operated on Sundays or public holidays, except in very limited circumstances. The line was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic; since reopening in October 2021 it is open only on weekdays. It is the only fully-subterranean tube line; the Victoria line runs completely underground in p…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Circle line is a spiral-shaped London Underground line, running from Hammersmith in the west to Edgware Road and then looping around central London back to Edgware Road. The railway is below ground in the central section and on the loop east of Paddington. Unlike London's deep-level lines, the Circle line tunnels are just below the surface and are of similar size to those on British main lines. Printed in yellow on the Tube map, the 17-mile (27 km) line serves 36 stations, including most of London's main line termini. Almost all of the route, and all the stations, are shared with one or more of the three other sub-surface lines, namely the District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan l…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

On 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks by four Islamist extremists disrupted part of London's public transport system as a follow-up attack to the 7 July 2005 London bombings two weeks earlier. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on the London Underground, and on London Buses route 26 in Haggerston. A fifth bomber dumped his device without attempting to set it off. Connecting lines and stations were closed and evacuated. Metropolitan Police later said the intention of the attack was to cause large-scale loss of life, but only the detonators of the bombs exploded, probably causing the popping sounds reported by witnesses; a person h…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 9.14 million people in 2025. Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 15.4 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the site of the national government and parliament for centuries. London grew rapidly i…