History of the London Underground

Both railways expanded, the Metropolitan eventually extending as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London.

The First World War delayed extensions of the Bakerloo and Central London Railways, and people used the tube stations as shelters during Zeppelin air raids by June 1915.

In 2003, control passed to Transport for London (TfL), which had been opposed to the arrangement and, following financial failure of the infrastructure companies, had taken full responsibility by 2010.

[1] During the first half of the 19th century, London had grown greatly and the development of a commuting population arriving by train each day led to traffic congestion with carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads.

[25] The Metropolitan & St John's Wood Railway opened as a single track branch from Baker Street to Swiss Cottage, and this was to become the Met's most important route as it expanded north into the Middlesex countryside, where it stimulated the development of new suburbs.

Harrow was reached during 1880, and the line eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Baker Street and the centre of London.

[38] Two 11 feet 8+1⁄4 inches (3.562 m) diameter tunnels were dug beneath the roads between Shepherd's Bush and Bank for the Central London Railway (CLR).

[62] A number of the surface buildings, with an exterior of glazed dark red bricks, were designed by Leslie Green and 140 electric lifts were imported from America from the Otis Elevator Company.

[56] "Moving staircases" or escalators were first installed at Earl's Court between the District and Piccadilly line platforms, and at all deep level tube stations after 1912.

[63] Suggestions of merger with the Underground Group were rejected by the Metropolitan, a press release of November 1912 noting its interests in areas outside London, its relationships with main line railways and its freight business.

In the 1920s, taking advantage of government backed financial guarantees for capital projects that promoted employment, there were major extensions of the City & South London and the Hampstead lines.

On 1 July 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), was created as a public corporation and the Metropolitan, the UERL underground railways, tramway companies and bus operators were merged into one organisation.

It was proposed to electrify to Amersham with additional tracks from Harrow to Rickmansworth and to extend the Bakerloo line to Stanmore to relieve the bottleneck on the Metropolitan from Baker Street to Finchley.

[85] Following the outbreak of war, services on the Northern line between Strand (now Charing Cross) and Kennington were suspended as the tunnels under the Thames were blocked as a defence against flooding.

This left the exhibition centre without a railway service so, after the war, the station was renamed Kensington (Olympia) and served by a District line shuttle from Earl's Court.

The BTC prioritised the reconstruction of the main line railways over the maintenance of the Underground and most of the unfinished plans of the 1935–40 New Works Programme were shelved or postponed.

[100] After experiments with an AEC lightweight diesel multiple unit in 1952,[98] steam trains were removed from the Central line following the electrification of the Epping–Ongar section during 1957.

[121][122] A Fire Safety Code of Practice was drawn up for rolling stock and this led to internal refurbishment of the trains that included replacing the interior panelling and fitting or improving the public address systems.

[131][132] It was difficult for Livingstone to block the PPP process, which was entirely in the national Government's hands as it still owned London Underground, which was not transferred to local control until July 2003.

Although the private operators were expected to receive at least 18–20% returns on capital (for Metronet), for the type of risk associated with major upgrades, most of the work was low-risk maintenance and replacement.

[138] In April 2005, the Commissioner of Transport for London, Bob Kiley, pressed for an urgent review of the PPP, describing its performance as "bordering on disaster".

[149] Specific analysis included the finding that Metronet had not performed in an economic or efficient manner, and had failed to follow good industry practice.

[149][150] Metronet was also declared at fault by an accident investigators' report into a May 2004 derailment at White City, for failing to implement sufficient safety checks despite being ordered to do so by TfL.

However, due to a deal struck with the government in 2003, when the PPP scheme began operating, the companies were protected from any further liability, thus the British taxpayer therefore had to foot the rest of the bill.

[164][165] On 7 May 2010, Transport for London agreed to buy out Bechtel and Amey (Ferrovial), the shareholders of Tube Lines, in exchange for £310 million, formally ending the PPP.

[166][167][168] Combined with the takeover of Metronet, this meant that all maintenance was thereafter managed in-house, although TfL has continued to involve a large number of private suppliers and contractors.

[185] In the 2010s, the Crossrail project was built at a cost of £18.8bn to connect two mainline railways with a new east west tunnel under central London, similar to Paris' Réseau Express Régional.

[190] London Underground brought in new measures on 25 March to combat the spread of the virus by slowing the flow of passengers onto platforms, which included the imposition of queuing at ticket gates and turning off some escalators.

The traffic reduced significantly when road transport was introduced from to Marylebone, but the problem remained until 1936, being one reason the LPTB gave for abolishing the carrying of parcels on trains.

Starting at midnight trains would leave Highbury every five to ten minutes and access the line from Finsbury Park via Highgate High Level.