The london Underground Map ( london tube ) is a schematic london underground transit map representing the lines and stations of London's rapid transit railway systems, namely the London Underground.


london underground  map
The London Underground Map (see below: london underground map) is a rapid transit system in the United Kingdom, serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. It incorporates the oldest section of underground railway in the world, which opened in 1863 and now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines; and the first line to operate electric trains, in 1890, now part of the Northern line.

The london underground map system is also colloquially called the Tube. As commonly used today both by Londoners and in most official publicity, this term embraces the entire system. Originally, though, it applied only to the deep-level lines with trains of a smaller and more circular cross-section, and served to distinguish them from the sub-surface "cut-and-cover" lines that were built first and originally used steam locomotives.

The earlier lines of the present London Underground network were built by various private companies. They became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) or London Transport was created. The underground network became a separate entity in 1985, when the UK Government created London Underground Limited (LUL). Since 2003 LUL has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, which is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London.

The london underground map serves 270 stations and has 402 kilometres (250 mi) of track, 45 per cent of which is underground. It is the second largest metro system in the world in terms of route miles, after the Shanghai Metro and part of the largest system in terms of route miles when taken together with the Docklands Light Railway and the London Overground It also has one of the largest numbers of stations. In 2007, more than one billion passenger journeys were recorded,all using the london underground map, making it the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris. The tube is an international icon for London, with the tube map, considered a design classic, having influenced many other transport maps worldwide. Although also shown on the Tube map, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and London Overground are not part of the London Underground network.

Currently, 86% of operational expenditure on the London Underground is covered by passenger fares.Almost all London Underground trains currently lack air-conditioning, which leads to the network getting very hot in the summer, although plans are under way to mitigate this problem with new air-conditioned trains and other schemes. Because of engineering work being carried out under the 2010-12 upgrade plan, lines were regularly closed during weekends

london underground map






Early london underground map

What is now a single network of lines controlled by a single organisation began as a collection of independent underground railway companies that constructed lines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These companies published london underground maps of their own services but did not, generally, co-operate in advertising their services collectively. Early london underground maps were based on standard geographic city maps indicating the directions of lines and locations of station, overlaid on geographic features and main roads.
The first combined london underground map was published in 1908 by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) in conjunction with four other underground railway companies using the "Underground" brand as part of a common advertising initiative.

london underground map



london underground map  (Tube map) of 1908
The london underground map showed eight lines – four operated by the UERL and one from each of the other four companies:
  • UERL lines:
    • Bakerloo tube - brown
    • Hampstead tube - grey
    • Piccadilly tube - yellow
    • Metropolitan District Railway - green
  • Other lines:
    • Central London Railway - blue
    • City and South London Railway - black
    • Great Northern and City Railway - orange
    • Metropolitan Railway - red

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    Facts and figures

  • Number of miles/km travelled by each Tube train each year: 114,500 miles/184,269km
  • Total number of passengers carried each year: 1,107 million
  • Average train speed: 33km per hour/20.5mph
  • Length of network: 402km/249 miles
  • Proportion of the network that is in tunnels: 45 per cent
  • Longest continuous tunnel: East Finchley to Morden (via Bank) - 27.8km/17.25 miles
  • Total number of escalators: 426
  • Station with most escalators: Waterloo - 23 
  • Longest escalator: Angel - 60m/197ft, with a vertical rise of 27.5m/90ft
  • Shortest escalator: Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m
  • Total number of lifts, including four stair lifts: 164
  • Four passenger conveyors - two at Waterloo and two at Bank  
  • Deepest lift shaft: Hampstead - 55.2m/181ft
  • Shortest lift shaft: King's Cross - 2.3m/7.5ft
  • Vertical lifting platforms highest rise: Walthamstow 1.98m/6.5ft
  • Vertical lifting platforms shortest: Hainault 0.64m/2.1ft
  • Carriages in London Underground's (LU's) fleet: 4134
  • Total number of stations served: 270
  • Total number of stations managed: 260
  • Total number of staff: 19,000 approx
  • Stations with the most platforms: Baker Street - 10. Moorgate has 10 platforms but only six are used by LU (two are used by First Capital Connect and two were formerly used by Thameslink services)
  • Busiest stations: During the three-hour morning peak, London's busiest Tube station is Waterloo, with 57,000 people entering. The busiest station in terms of passengers each year is also Waterloo with 82 million
  • The Underground name first appeared on stations in 1908
  • London Underground has been known as the Tube since 1890, when the first deep-level electric railway line was opened
  • The Tube's world-famous logo, 'the roundel' (a red circle crossed by a horizontal blue bar), first appeared in 1908