Underground urban railway (London Metropolitan Railway)
Ferrocarril metropolitano subterráneo (Metropolitan Railway)
- Date
- 1863 · confidence high
- Place
- London (Paddington-Farringdon), England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Charles Pearson (promoter) and John Fowler (engineer)
- People
- 👤 Charles Pearson1793–1862👤 John Fowler1817–1898
- Field
- Movement
What it is
The world's first underground railway line, built by cut-and-cover with steam locomotives, which carried 38,000 passengers on its first day. It inaugurated high-capacity metropolitan transport.
Opened on 10 January 1863; smoke from the steam locomotives was a problem until electrification in 1905.
What it led to
- The underground railways of Budapest (1896), Paris (1900), New York (1904)
- Railway suburbs ('Metro-land') and the city-region
- Deep-level shield-bored lines with electric traction (1890)
- Reduced-fare workmen's trains
Built on
Made possible
- Deep-level electric underground (City & South London, 1890)
- World metro (underground railway) systems