104-545: The Bakerloo line ( / ˌ b eɪ k ər ˈ l uː / ) is a London Underground line that runs from Harrow & Wealdstone in suburban north-west London to Elephant & Castle in south London, via the West End . Printed in brown on the Tube map , it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over 23.2 kilometres (14.4 mi). It runs partly on the surface and partly through deep-level tube tunnels. The line's name
208-521: A common standard: the stations below ground using Art Nouveau decorative tiling by Leslie Green , and the above-ground stations built in red brick with stone detailing in an Arts & Crafts style. It is the ninth-busiest line on the network, carrying more than 125 million passengers annually. The line currently runs 1972 Stock trains which, at 52 years old, are the oldest trains in regular passenger service in Britain. The route had its origins in
312-594: A day use District Line tracks between Wimbledon and East Putney. London Underground trains come in two sizes, larger sub-surface trains and smaller deep-tube trains. Since the early 1960s all passenger trains have been electric multiple units with sliding doors and a train last ran with a guard in 2000. All lines use fixed-length trains with between six and eight cars, except for the Waterloo & City line that uses four cars. New trains are designed for maximum number of standing passengers and for speed of access to
416-451: A day. In 2023/24 it was used for 1.181billion passenger journeys. The system's first tunnels were built just below the ground, using the cut-and-cover method; later, smaller, roughly circular tunnels—which gave rise to its nickname, the Tube—were dug through at a deeper level. Despite its name, only 45% of the system is under the ground: much of the network in the outer environs of London
520-783: A diameter of about 11 feet 8 inches (3.56 m), with one tube for each direction. The seven deep-level lines have the exclusive use of tracks and stations along their routes with the exceptions of the Piccadilly line, which shares track with the District line, between Acton Town and Hanger Lane Junction, and with the Metropolitan line, between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge; and the Bakerloo line, which shares track with London Overground 's Watford DC Line for its above-ground section north of Queen's Park. Fifty-five per cent of
624-597: A fire on a train at Oxford Circus station caused disruption on the Bakerloo line. A number of people were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. Operation of the northern section of the line may be changed following the decision in February 2006 to transfer responsibility for Euston-Watford suburban services (on the Watford DC Line ) from the Department for Transport to Transport for London (TfL). This
728-515: A further extension along the Mid-Kent line to Hayes and Beckenham Junction . This could occur following the completion of the extension to Lewisham. Estimated to cost between £4.7bn to £7.9bn (in 2017 prices), the extension would take around 7 years to construct. Due to TfL's poor finances following the COVID-19 pandemic , work to implement the extension is currently on hold. The Bakerloo line
832-447: A number of suburban lines. These included: On the city's roads, the programme was to see the large-scale abandonment of trams and their replacement by trolleybuses, creating the world's largest trolleybus system at that date. Substantial and rapid progress was made on the network across the capital before the advent of World War II delayed, then prevented its completion. The Central line tunnel relining works were completed in 1938 and
936-517: A potential difference of 630 V . On the sections of line shared with mainline trains, such as the District line from East Putney to Wimbledon and Gunnersbury to Richmond, and the Bakerloo line north of Queen's Park, the centre rail is bonded to the running rails. The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 mph (33.0 km/h). Outside the tunnels of central London, many lines' trains tend to travel at over 40 mph (64 km/h) in
1040-527: A process of ordering new rolling stock to replace trains on the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines. A feasibility study into the new trains showed that new generation trains and re-signalling could increase capacity on the Bakerloo line by 25%, with 27 trains per hour. In June 2018, the Siemens Mobility Inspiro design was selected. These trains would have an open gangway design, wider doorways, air conditioning and
1144-594: A public transport system. The LPTB commissioned many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. The schematic Tube map , designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted a national design icon in 2006 and now includes other transport systems besides the Underground, such as the Docklands Light Railway , London Overground , Thameslink , the Elizabeth line , and Tramlink . Other famous London Underground branding includes
SECTION 10
#17327732760091248-567: A result, work on the line was stopped for a few months and did not resume until Charles Yerkes and UERL stepped in and took over the project. By 1913, the line had been extended westward from its original northern terminus at Baker Street, with interchange stations with the Great Central Railway at Marylebone and with the Great Western Railway at Paddington , and a new station at Edgware Road . In 1915,
1352-413: A single-track goods line until closed in 1964. The electrification of the Metropolitan line from Rickmansworth to Amersham and Chesham was not completed until 12 September 1960. and the quadrupling of the tracks was not completed until 1961, but only to a point north of Moor Park . The complete re-signalling of the line north of Rickmansworth was done by 1959. As electrification did not take place all
1456-452: A wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in London. As of 2015 , 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares. The Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster card , a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless bank card payments were introduced in 2014, the first such use on
1560-644: Is a portmanteau of its original name, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway . From Queen's Park to Harrow & Wealdstone (the section above ground), the line shares tracks with the London Overground Lioness line and runs parallel to the West Coast Main Line . There is, however, a short tunnel at the western end of Kensal Green . Opened between 1906 and 1915, many of its stations retain elements of their design to
1664-760: Is identified by a letter (such as S Stock , used on the Metropolitan line ), while tube stock is identified by the year of intended introduction (for example, 1996 Stock , used on the Jubilee line). The Underground is served by the following depots: In the years since the first parts of the London Underground opened, many stations and routes have been closed. Some stations were closed because of low passenger numbers rendering them uneconomical; some became redundant after lines were re-routed or replacements were constructed; and others are no longer served by
1768-488: Is on the surface. The early tube lines, originally owned by several private companies, were brought together under the Underground brand in the early 20th century, and eventually merged along with the sub-surface lines and bus services in 1933 to form London Transport under the control of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The current operator, London Underground Limited (LUL), is
1872-432: Is operated entirely by 1972 Stock , displaced from the Jubilee line by 1983 stock . The trains are maintained at Stonebridge Park depot. All Bakerloo line trains are painted in the London Underground livery of red, white and blue, and are the smaller of the two train sizes used on the network, as the line runs deep underground in small-diameter tunnels. In the early 2000s, the interiors of the trains were 'deep-cleaned' and
1976-565: The City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line . The network has expanded to 11 lines with 250 miles (400 km) of track. However, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London ; there are only 33 Underground stations south of the River Thames . The system's 272 stations collectively accommodate up to 5million passenger journeys
2080-535: The Great Northern and City Railway , which opened in 1904, was built to take main line trains from Finsbury Park to a Moorgate terminus in the City and had 16-foot (4.9 m) diameter tunnels. While steam locomotives were in use on the Underground there were contrasting health reports. There were many instances of passengers collapsing whilst travelling, due to heat and pollution, leading for calls to clean
2184-778: The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games , the Underground saw record passenger numbers, with over 4.3 million people using the Tube on some days. This record was subsequently beaten in later years, with 4.82 million passengers in December 2015. In 2013, the Underground celebrated its 150th anniversary, with celebratory events such as steam trains and installation of a unique Labyrinth artwork at each station. Under TfL, London's public transport network became more unified, with existing suburban rail lines across London upgraded and rebranded as London Overground from 2007, with
SECTION 20
#17327732760092288-598: The London Blitz , a bomb penetrated the booking hall of Bank Station , the blast from which killed 111 people, many of whom were sleeping in passageways and on platforms. On 3 March 1943, a test of the air-raid warning sirens, together with the firing of a new type of anti-aircraft rocket, resulted in a crush of people attempting to take shelter in Bethnal Green Underground station . A total of 173 people, including 62 children, died, making this both
2392-553: The London Passenger Transport Board , which used the London Transport brand . The Waterloo & City Railway , which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway , remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, Harry Beck 's diagrammatic tube map first appeared. In the following years, the outlying lines of
2496-581: The M25 London Orbital motorway ( Amersham , Chalfont & Latimer , Chesham , and Chorleywood on the Metropolitan line and Epping on the Central). Of the thirty-two London boroughs , six ( Bexley , Bromley , Croydon , Kingston , Lewisham and Sutton ) are not served by the Underground network, while Hackney has Old Street (on the Northern line Bank branch) and Manor House (on
2600-490: The Northern line from Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Nine Elms . The extension was privately funded, with contributions from developments across the Battersea Power Station , Vauxhall and Nine Elms areas. As of 2021, the Underground serves 272 stations . Sixteen stations (eight on each of the Metropolitan and Central lines) are outside the London region , with five of those beyond
2704-530: The Piccadilly line by Cammell Laird in Nottingham in 1919 were transferred to the Bakerloo line. When built, these had been the first Tube trains to have air-operated doors. These were later replaced by more trains of Standard Stock, in turn being replaced by 1938 stock and 1949 stock . Until the 1980s, the Bakerloo line was mainly worked by 1938 stock. 1972 stock operated briefly on the line during
2808-529: The Victoria line was dug under central London and, unlike the earlier tunnels, did not follow the roads above. The line opened in 1968–71 with the trains being driven automatically and magnetically encoded tickets collected by automatic gates gave access to the platforms. On 1 January 1970, responsibility for public transport within Greater London passed from central government to local government, in
2912-539: The West London line were suspended, leaving Olympia exhibition centre without a railway service until a District line shuttle from Earl's Court began after the war. After work restarted on the Central line extensions in east and west London, these were completed in 1949. During the war many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters. They were not always a guarantee of safety however; on 11 January 1941 during
3016-625: The roundel and the Johnston typeface , created by Edward Johnston in 1916. The idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with the urban centre was proposed in the 1830s, and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854. To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth , a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel
3120-526: The Bakerloo line was extended to Watford in 1917, it acquired an interchange at Harrow & Wealdstone with another route to Stanmore, the Stanmore branch line . This branch line was operated by the LNWR and terminated at a separate Stanmore station (later renamed Stanmore Village ). It was closed in 1964, partly due to the success of the rival Metropolitan/Bakerloo Underground line to Stanmore. An extension at
3224-638: The Bakerloo line. The Best And Final Bid documentation for the Croxley Rail Link project indicates that this Bakerloo line extension is now "unlikely" because "TfL's plans to extend the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction are on hold indefinitely due to funding and business case constraints". Since the late 2000s, Transport for London (TfL) has been planning an extension of the line, with a route to Lewisham via Old Kent Road safeguarded in 2021. Four stations would be built, at Burgess Park, Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham , with provision for
Bakerloo line - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-588: The Bushey Heath Extension were reduced to an extension to Brockley Hill in 1949. In 1953 the decision was made to cancel this part as well. The GN&C branch had transferred to the Northern line before the war and remained under its control after the war, but it was never integrated into the rest of the line. The completion of the electrification of the LNER's remaining tracks from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace and from Mill Hill East to Edgware
3432-473: The Central line east of St Paul's station); or trains run on the right (for example on the Victoria line between Warren Street and King's Cross St. Pancras, to allow cross-platform interchange with the Northern line at Euston ). The lines are electrified with a four-rail DC system: a conductor rail between the rails is energised at −210 V and a rail outside the running rails at +420 V , giving
3536-831: The District Railway and established the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) in 1902 to finance and operate three tube lines, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (Bakerloo), the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (Hampstead) and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , (Piccadilly), which all opened between 1906 and 1907. When the "Bakerloo" was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified "gutter title". By 1907
3640-696: The District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway and the City & South London Railway , as well as many of London's bus and tram operators. Only the Metropolitan Railway , along with its subsidiaries the Great Northern & City Railway and the East London Railway , and the Waterloo & City Railway , by then owned by
3744-493: The LNER services. Underground services to High Barnet commenced on 14 April 1940. Highgate station came into use on 19 January 1941 and services started operating on the branch to Mill Hill East on 18 May 1941. This latter section was finished, exceptionally, to serve Inglis Barracks . The outstanding electrification works on the remainder of the LNER's branch from Finsbury Park to Highgate, from Highgate to Alexandra Palace and from Mill Hill East to Edgware were halted. Works on
3848-712: The London Underground. In 1976, the Northern City Line was taken over by British Rail and linked up with the main line railway at Finsbury Park , a transfer that had already been planned prior to the accident. In 1979, another new tube, the Jubilee line , named in honour of the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II , took over the Stanmore branch from the Bakerloo line, linking it to a newly constructed line between Baker Street and Charing Cross stations. Under
3952-399: The Metropolitan line's service to Stanmore on 20 November 1939. The branch remained part of the Bakerloo line until 1 May 1979, when similar congestion problems for the Bakerloo line caused by two branches converging at Baker Street led to the creation of the Jubilee line , initially formed by connecting the Stanmore branch to new tunnels bored between Baker Street and Charing Cross . When
4056-468: The PPP contract, Metronet – the private consortium responsible for the Bakerloo line – would order new rolling stock for the line. This would take place following the delivery of 2009 Stock and S Stock trains, with an order for 24 new Bakerloo line trains. These would have entered service by 2019. However, Metronet collapsed in 2007 after cost overruns, and the PPP ended in 2010. In the mid 2010s, TfL began
4160-531: The Piccadilly line) just inside its boundaries. Lewisham was served by the East London line (with stations at New Cross and New Cross Gate ) until 2010 when the line and the stations were transferred to the London Overground network. London Underground's eleven lines total 402 kilometres (250 mi) in length, making it the eleventh longest metro system in the world . These are made up of
4264-600: The Tube ) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire , Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway , opening on 10 January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway. The Metropolitan is now part of the Circle , District , Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines . The first line to operate underground electric traction trains ,
Bakerloo line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-455: The Tube has taken place - with new trains (such as London Underground S7 and S8 Stock ), new signalling, upgraded stations (such as King's Cross St Pancras ) and improved accessibility (such as at Green Park ). Small changes to the Tube network occurred in the 2000s, with extensions to Heathrow Terminal 5 , new station at Wood Lane and the Circle line changed from serving a closed loop around
4472-526: The Underground and partly by the London and North Western Railway (later London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)). They were initially painted in LNWR livery. They were not equipped with air-operated doors and proved slow and unreliable, so they were replaced by new trains of Standard Stock by 1930 (although a few were retained by the LMS). For some years in the 1930s, Watford trains had a distinctive blue stripe at window level. In 1932, some carriages built for
4576-436: The Underground but remain open to National Rail main line services. In some cases, such as Aldwych and Ongar , the buildings remain and are used for other purposes. In others, such as British Museum , all evidence of the station has been lost through demolition. London Transport Museum runs guided tours of several disused stations including Down Street and Aldwych through its "Hidden London" programme. The tours look at
4680-421: The Underground map but no further work was done. The train describers at Warwick Avenue station showed Camberwell as a destination until the 1990s. Further extensions of the line were considered, south to Peckham Rye in the 1970s, and east to London Docklands and Canary Wharf in the 1980s. Neither proposal was proceeded with. One oddity is that, almost from its opening until 1917, the Bakerloo operated with
4784-463: The ability to run automatically with a new signalling system. TfL could only afford to order Piccadilly line trains at a cost of £1.5bn. However, the contract with Siemens includes an option for 40 trains for the Bakerloo line in the future. This would take place after the delivery of the Piccadilly line trains in the late 2020s. When opened in 1906, the Bakerloo line was operated by Gate Stock trains, built at Trafford Park , Manchester . To cope with
4888-621: The advent of electric Tube services (the Waterloo and City Railway and the Great Northern and City Railway), the Volks Electric Railway , in Brighton , and competition from electric trams, the pioneering Underground companies needed modernising. In the early 20th century, the District and Metropolitan railways needed to electrify and a joint committee recommended an AC system, the two companies co-operating because of
4992-490: The air through the installation of garden plants. The Metropolitan even encouraged beards for staff to act as an air filter. There were other reports claiming beneficial outcomes of using the Underground, including the designation of Great Portland Street as a " sanatorium for [sufferers of ...] asthma and bronchial complaints", tonsillitis could be cured with acid gas and the Twopenny Tube cured anorexia . With
5096-699: The capital and the surrounding areas. The programme was to develop many aspects of the public transport services run by the LPTB and the suburban rail services of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). The investment was largely backed by government assistance as well as by the issuing of financial bonds and was estimated to cost £42,286,000 in 1936 (approximately £3.63 billion today). The Programme saw major reconstructions of many central area Underground stations, with escalators being installed to replace lifts; extensions of several tube lines; and connection to and electrification of
5200-432: The cars and have regenerative braking and public address systems. Since 1999 all new stock has had to comply with accessibility regulations that require such things as access and room for wheelchairs, and the size and location of door controls. All underground trains are required to comply with The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010 (RVAR 2010) by 2020. Stock on sub-surface lines
5304-658: The centre of London to a spiral also serving Hammersmith in 2009. In July 2005, four coordinated terrorist attacks took place, three of them occurring on the Tube network. It was the UK's deadliest terrorist incident since 1988. Electronic ticketing in the form of the contactless Oyster card was first introduced in 2003, with payment using contactless banks cards introduced in September 2014. In 2019 , over 12million Oyster cards and 35million contactless cards were used, generating around £5billion in ticketing revenue. During
SECTION 50
#17327732760095408-566: The control of the GLC, London Transport introduced a system of fare zones for buses and underground trains that cut the average fare in 1981. Fares increased following a legal challenge but the fare zones were retained, and in the mid-1980s the Travelcard and the Capitalcard were introduced. In 1984, control of London Buses and the London Underground passed back to central government with
5512-533: The creation of London Regional Transport (LRT), which reported directly to the Secretary of State for Transport , still retaining the London Transport brand. One person operation had been planned in 1968, but conflict with the trade unions delayed introduction until the 1980s. On 18 November 1987, fire broke out in an escalator at King's Cross St Pancras tube station . The resulting fire cost
5616-419: The current 1972 stock. As of May 2021, weekday off-peak and Sunday services on Bakerloo line are: This forms a 16 tph service (or a train approximately every 4 minutes) between Queen's Park and Elephant & Castle. A 20 tph service runs on this section of the line during the weekday peak and all day on Saturdays. Note: For the former Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, see the Jubilee line article. For
5720-691: The early 1960s, the Metropolitan line was electrified as far as Amersham , British Railways providing services for the former Metropolitan line stations between Amersham and Aylesbury. In 1962, the British Transport Commission was abolished, and the London Transport Executive was renamed the London Transport Board , reporting directly to the Minister of Transport . Also during the 1960s,
5824-463: The early 2000s, London Underground was reorganised in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as part of a project to upgrade and modernise the system. Private infrastructure companies (infracos) would upgrade and maintain the railway, and London Underground would run the train service. One infraco – Metronet – went into administration in 2007, and TfL took over the other – Tube Lines – in 2010. Despite this, substantial investment to upgrade and modernise
5928-692: The emergency services. In April 1994, the Waterloo & City Railway , by then owned by British Rail and known as the Waterloo & City line, was transferred to the London Underground. In 1999, the Jubilee Line Extension project extended the Jubilee line from Green Park station through the growing Docklands to Stratford station . This resulted in the closure of the short section of tunnel between Green Park and Charing Cross stations. The 11 new stations were designed to be " future-proof ", with wide passageways, large quantities of escalators and lifts, and emergency exits. The stations were
6032-767: The extension beyond Edgware were also stopped, although the construction of the new tube depot at Aldenham was completed and the buildings were used to construct Halifax bomber aircraft for the RAF . Other parts of the land purchased for the Bushey Heath extension were farmed during the war to provide food for London Transport canteens. On the Central line, works on the eastern extension had progressed furthest with tunnels constructed to Leyton and from Leytonstone to Newbury Park . These were put into service as air-raid shelters (with disastrous results at Bethnal Green ) and as underground factories operated by Plessey . After
6136-588: The extension had been postponed until the Board's finances improved. Apart from the extension of the sidings south of Elephant & Castle , no work on the extension took place before the Second World War , but the powers were renewed by the government in 1947 under the Special Enactments (Extension of Time) Act, 1940 . A projected extension as far as Camberwell was shown on a 1949 edition of
6240-400: The extension to Queen's Park, 12 extra motor cars of the London Underground 1914 Stock were ordered, ten from Brush of Loughborough and two from the Leeds Forge Company . To operate services north of Queen's Park, 72 additional cars were built by the Metropolitan Carriage, Waggon and Finance Company of Birmingham . These trains, known as the Watford Joint Stock , were partly owned by
6344-493: The failed projects of the pneumatic 1865 Waterloo and Whitehall Railway and the 1882 Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway. Originally called the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, the line was constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) and opened between Lambeth North (at the time named Kennington Road ) and Baker Street on 10 March 1906. It was extended eastward to Elephant & Castle five months later, on 5 August. The contraction of
SECTION 60
#17327732760096448-429: The first of the new-look cars operating on the line in March. Each car's interior was cleaned, the seating moquette replaced with a variation of the Barman type seen on other lines, and handrails and lighting renewed. Each car was assessed and repair work carried out to ensure the stock can operate safely. According to a November 2021 paper by the TfL Finance Committee, replacement of the current trains may not occur until
6552-431: The first on the Underground to have platform edge doors , and were built to have step-free access throughout. The stations have subsequently been praised as exemplary pieces of 20th-century architecture. In 2000, Transport for London (TfL) was created as an integrated body responsible for London's transport system. Part of the Greater London Authority , the TfL Board is appointed by the Mayor of London , who also sets
6656-413: The following stations: The Stanmore branch was originally constructed by the Metropolitan Railway and was later designated as the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line in 1939. It was transferred to the Jubilee line on 1 May 1979. It connected to the main Bakerloo line at Baker Street. The Bakerloo line is currently served by three depots: a main depot at Stonebridge Park , opened on 9 April 1979 on
6760-432: The form of the Greater London Council (GLC), and the London Transport Board was abolished. The London Transport brand continued to be used by the GLC. On 28 February 1975, a southbound train on the Northern City Line failed to stop at its Moorgate terminus and crashed into the wall at the end of the tunnel, in the Moorgate tube crash . There were 43 deaths and 74 injuries, the greatest loss of life during peacetime on
6864-479: The former East London line becoming part of the Overground network in 2010. Many Overground stations interchange with Underground ones, and Overground lines were added onto the Tube map. In the 2010s, the £18.8 billion Crossrail project built a new east–west railway tunnel under central London. The project involved rebuilding and expanding several central Underground stations including Tottenham Court Road and Whitechapel . By increasing rail capacity,
6968-504: The former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936. The 1935–40 New Works Programme included the extension of the Central and Northern lines and the Bakerloo line to take over the Metropolitan's Stanmore branch. The Second World War suspended these plans after the Bakerloo line had reached Stanmore and the Northern line High Barnet and Mill Hill East in 1941. Following bombing in 1940, passenger services over
7072-420: The history of the network and feature historical details drawn from the museum's own archives and collections. New Works Programme The New Works Programme of 1935–1940 was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram , trolleybus and bus services in
7176-401: The late 1970s until it was transferred to the Jubilee line when it opened in 1979. From 1983, the 1938 stock began to be replaced by trains of 1959 stock from the Northern line , but this was a temporary measure until 1972 stock became available. The last 1938 stock train was withdrawn on 20 November 1985. From 1986, the 1959 stock was transferred back to the Northern line and was replaced by
7280-487: The late 2030s or early 2040s, due to a lack of funding. In this case, the trains would be 60-70 years old at the time of replacement, around twice their design life. Since the withdrawal of the final Class 483 trains on the Isle of Wight, the 1972 Stock have become the oldest non-heritage trains running in the United Kingdom. In the late 1990s, the Labour government initiated a public–private partnership (PPP) to reverse years of underinvestment in London Underground . Under
7384-420: The line aims to reduce overcrowding on the Tube and cut cross-London journey times. The railway opened as the Elizabeth line in May 2022. Although not part of the Underground, the line connects with several Underground stations. In 2020, passenger numbers fell significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and 40 stations were temporarily closed. The Northern Line Extension opened in September 2021, extending
7488-450: The line was extended to Queen's Park , where it joined the LNWR 's Euston-Watford DC line (now part of London Overground ) to Watford Junction . Bakerloo services to Watford Junction were reduced in the 1960s and cut back in 1982 to Stonebridge Park . Services as far as Harrow & Wealdstone were gradually restored from 1984, and in 1989 the present all-day service was instituted. By
7592-411: The line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth , and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925 and from Wembley Park to Stanmore in 1932. The Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow (later Uxbridge) and Hounslow. In 1933, most of London's underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form
7696-530: The lives of 31 people and injured a further 100. London Underground was strongly criticised in the aftermath for its attitude to fires underground, and publication of the report into the fire led to the resignation of senior management of both London Underground and London Regional Transport. Following the fire, substantial improvements to safety on the Tube were implemented – including the banning of smoking, removal of wooden escalators, installation of CCTV and fire detectors, as well as comprehensive radio coverage for
7800-633: The main line London and South Western Railway , remained outside the Underground Group's control. A joint marketing agreement between most of the companies in the early years of the 20th century included maps, joint publicity, through ticketing and U NDERGROUN D signs, incorporating the first bullseye symbol, outside stations in Central London. At the time, the term Underground was selected from three other proposed names; 'Tube' and 'Electric' were both officially rejected. Ironically,
7904-580: The mid-1930s, the Metropolitan line was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and Finchley Road stations. To relieve this pressure, the network-wide New Works Programme included the construction of new sections of tunnel between the Bakerloo line's platforms at Baker Street and Finchley Road and the replacement of three Metropolitan line stations ( Lord's , Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage ) between those points with two new Bakerloo stations ( St John's Wood and Swiss Cottage ). The Bakerloo line took over
8008-511: The name to "Bakerloo" rapidly caught on, and the official name was changed to match in July 1906. When work on the line started in June 1898, it had been financed by the mining entrepreneur and company promoter Whitaker Wright , who fell foul of the law over the financial proceedings involved and dramatically committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice , after being convicted in 1904. As
8112-473: The negative rail leaked on both systems. In 1917, the two lines were separated when the LNWR began its 'New Line' service between Euston and Watford Junction, which the Bakerloo would share north of Queens Park. As a result, normal operation was restored. The line celebrated its centenary on 10 March 2006, when events were organised with actors and staff in Edwardian costume entertaining travellers. In 2017,
8216-513: The outstanding New Works Programme. The cases for the Northern line extension to Bushey Heath and the continuation of the Central line extension beyond West Ruislip to Denham were damaged by the introduction of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 , which led to the creation of Metropolitan Green Belt around the capital including areas of land through which the new lines were planned and which had been intended for development as housing. Plans for
8320-482: The polarity of the conductor rails reversed, the outside rail negative and the centre rail positive. This came about because the Bakerloo shared a power source with the District Railway . On the Bakerloo, the outside conductor rail tended to leak to the tunnel wall, whereas on the District Railway, the centre rail shared a similar problem. The solution was to reverse the polarity on the Bakerloo line, so that
8424-460: The replacement of the line's power supply was completed in 1940. The Bakerloo line service to Stanmore started on 20 November 1939. The 1938 tube stock came into operation as intended although the extensions they were built for were not completed at once. Progress on the Northern line works enabled the extension from Archway to come into service as far as East Finchley on 3 July 1939 (excluding Highgate station), where interchanges were made with
8528-508: The roads to avoid the need for agreement with owners of property on the surface. This opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells . The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, known as the "twopenny tube". These two ran electric trains in circular tunnels having diameters between 11 feet 8 inches (3.56 m) and 12 feet 2.5 inches (3.72 m), whereas
8632-430: The service. The Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway ) opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground "inner circle" connecting London's main-line stations. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and cover method. Both railways expanded, the District building five branches to
8736-596: The shared ownership of the inner circle. The District, needing to raise the finance necessary, found an investor in the American Charles Yerkes who favoured a DC system similar to that in use on the City & South London and Central London railways. The Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade , the DC system was adopted. Yerkes soon had control of
8840-493: The site of a former British Rail power station which contains the fleet's maintenance facilities; the original depot at London Road (between Elephant and Castle and Lambeth North , though connected to the line between Lambeth North and Waterloo); and a small depot immediately north of Queens Park , built in 1915. The Queens Park depot is unique on the London Underground network in that trains in passenger service run through it. When Bakerloo line services ran to Watford, there
8944-508: The southern end of the line to Camberwell and Denmark Hill was proposed and approved in 1931 as part of the London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931 . In April 1937, the estimated cost of the proposed extension was £5,000,000 (approximately £360 million today) and the London Passenger Transport Board announced that, due to rising materials prices,
9048-535: The stations past Harrow & Wealdstone no longer served by the Bakerloo Line but still served by Overground trains, see the Lioness line article. Between 1917 and 1982, Bakerloo line trains continued along the DC line past Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction. These stations continue to be served by Lioness line . Proposals have surfaced to re-extend the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction and service
9152-546: The structure and level of public transport fares in London. The day-to-day running of the corporation is left to the Commissioner of Transport for London . TfL eventually replaced London Regional Transport, and discontinued the use of the London Transport brand in favour of its own brand. The transfer of responsibility was staged, with transfer of control of London Underground delayed until July 2003, when London Underground Limited became an indirect subsidiary of TfL. In
9256-612: The sub-surface network and the deep-tube lines. The Circle , District , Hammersmith & City , and Metropolitan lines form the sub-surface network, with cut-and-cover railway tunnels just below the surface and of a similar size to those on British main lines They converged on a bi-directional loop in central London, sharing tracks and stations with each other at various places along their respective routes. The Bakerloo , Central , Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines are deep-level tubes, with smaller trains that run in circular tunnels ( tubes ) with
9360-521: The suburban and countryside areas. The Metropolitan line can reach speeds of 62 mph (100 km/h). The London Underground was used for 1.181 billion journeys in the year 2023–2024. The Underground uses several railways and alignments that were built by main-line railway companies. Chiltern Railways shares track with the Metropolitan Line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham. Three South Western Railway passenger trains
9464-418: The system runs on the surface. There are 20 miles (32 km) of sub-surface tunnels and 93 miles (150 km) of tube tunnels. Many of the central London Underground stations on deep-level tube routes are higher than the running lines to assist deceleration when arriving and acceleration when departing. Trains generally run on the left-hand track. In some places, the tunnels are above each other (for example,
9568-464: The term Tube was later adopted alongside the Underground. The Bakerloo line was extended north to Queen's Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford , but the First World War delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the tube stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by
9672-425: The upholstery replaced with a blue moquette . The seating layouts are both longitudinal and transverse; some cars have longitudinal seating only. A TfL Finance and Policy Committee Paper dated 11 March 2015 revealed that the repair programme for the 1972 Stock would be more expensive than anticipated, due to the unexpectedly inferior condition of the fleet. In early 2016, a four-year refurbishment programme began with
9776-437: The war and was completed in 1920. After the war, government-backed financial guarantees were used to expand the network and the tunnels of the City and South London and Hampstead railways were linked at Euston and Kennington; the combined service was not named the Northern line until later. The Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the " Metro-land " brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on
9880-551: The war, a prioritisation of the limited resources available to London Transport saw the Central line extensions progressed, with the first new section in the east opening to Stratford in 1946 and the services to West Ruislip and Epping starting in 1948 and 1949. Initially, plans were put in place to complete the Northern Heights project during 1947 and 1948 and the plans for the extension to Bushey Heath were revised and parliamentary powers were renewed in 1947 for most of
9984-463: The way north to Aylesbury , the Metropolitan line service north of Amersham was withdrawn in 1961. The Plan to convert locomotive-hauled steam stock to electric working was abandoned, and new EMUs, designed in the 1950s, replaced existing steam and electric locomotives from 1960. They were called the A60 stock . The scheme to replace trams with trolleybuses was halted shortly after the outbreak of war, with
10088-562: The west reaching Ealing , Hounslow , Uxbridge , Richmond and Wimbledon and the Metropolitan eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire – more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London. For the first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway , two 10 feet 2 inches (3.10 m) diameter circular tunnels were dug between King William Street (close to today's Monument station ) and Stockwell , under
10192-706: The worst civilian disaster in Britain during the Second World War, and the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network. On 1 January 1948, under the provisions of the Transport Act 1947 , the London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and renamed the London Transport Executive , becoming a subsidiary transport organisation of the British Transport Commission , which
10296-413: Was abandoned, and equipment already installed was removed for reuse elsewhere. The bridge, just east of Mill Hill East, was rebuilt with provision for a second track, which was never laid. The Finsbury Park-to-Alexandra Palace section remained with the LNER, and then British Railways, until it was closed in 1954. The Mill Hill-to-Edgware section, which had been closed to passenger traffic, remained in use as
10400-485: Was also an additional depot, Croxley Green Light Maintenance Depot at Croxley Green ; this depot closed in November 1985 following the withdrawal of services. When the Bakerloo had two branches at its northern end, to Queens Park (as currently) and to Stanmore (now taken over by the Jubilee line), the depot at Neasden on the Stanmore branch was the principal one on the line. The Jubilee taking over this branch from 1979
10504-430: Was formed on the same day. Under the same act, the country's main line railways were also nationalised, and their reconstruction was given priority over the maintenance of the Underground and most of the unfinished plans of the pre-war New Works Programme were shelved or postponed. The District line needed new trains and an unpainted aluminium train entered service in 1953, this becoming the standard for new trains. In
10608-401: Was in conjunction with the reorganisation of a number of north London railways under London Overground . In a former London Plan, it was projected that by 2026 the Bakerloo line would be re-extended from Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction, restoring the pre-1982 service. The railway line from Queens Park to Watford Junction, currently shared with London Overground, would be shared with
10712-427: Was the reason behind building the new Stonebridge Park depot. The London Road depot is unusual in that, although the depot is on the surface, the line passes nearby in tunnel, connected by a short and sharply graded branch tunnel. Download coordinates as: [REDACTED] London transport portal London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname
10816-458: Was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, filled up. The world's first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, and borrowing trains from other railways to supplement
#8991