Accessibility

Accessibility has been a concern for the Underground ever since the first platform was built. The Early History section above describes the first efforts to make the Underground accessible, eg using wooden ramps rather than staircases to access platforms. For many years during this period there was debate over whether lifts, which would afford greater independence to mobility-impaired passengers, were preferable to ramps. The Underground needed to decide whether it would be most cost-effective to adapt existing stations or build new ones without steps from the outset and they realised that building new stations with lifts would do much more for disabled people than adapting old ones.

Many of the older Underground stations are now inaccessible due to lack of lifts (or in some cases, escalators, The London NET (thelondonnet.co.uk). The whole system was built at a time when the lowest level of access that you think of these days was the norm. There weren’t really any provisions made for physically disabled people, outside of separate lifts to help them get on and off trains. During the 1980s and 1990s, lifts from platform to street level were installed in stations (not all of them) and a few entirely new stations were built with lifts from street to platform level (Holland Park, Leicester Square, King's Cross St.

Pancras). Right up until 2007, no provision had been made for wheelchair users. Things have improved greatly since then though, as all new stations equipped with lifts now include lifts serving all levels (platforms, ticket areas and street. A ramp was installed at one station in June 2000 and a further 26 stations had ramps installed by 2005. However, there continue to be problems on the network which remain inaccessible to wheelchair users. The Emirates Air Line cable car over the Thames is fully accessible with the exception of the unloading platform (on the Greenwich Peninsula) and the two terminals.

Accessibility has steadily improved since then, though full accessibility requires the retrofitting or replacement of many and varied features throughout the system. Complex modern subway stations, such as London Victoria, have elevators and escalators to access platforms, plus lifts to provide step-free access from street or other level to the surface. It’s free to get in the museum but if you want to see an exhibition it’s very reasonable. There are 2 fountains in Trafalgar Square.

Bakerloo Line Extension To Lewisham

London's transport plans were altered by the 1940s. The extension to Camberwell was replaced in 1951 with the Bakerloo Line replacing the wider Overground line, and more changes were proposed.  These included a connection to Lewisham on an east-west axis running from Catford and Peckham to Clapham Junction. This required a northern diversion of the deep-level tunnels between Elephant & Castle and Charing Cross, extending south from New Cross Gate station as far as the Waterloo & City Line tunnel near Lambeth North station; its trackbed then takes it underneath the adjacent London County Council main road to Camberwell Green, where after it would turn north again towards Denmark Hill station.

A Bakerloo line extension to Camberwell and Lewisham has been mooted for many years. The proposal is periodically brought up by local campaign groups and the Labour Party. In 1931, the London Passenger Transport Board began a number of extensions to the London underground system to help stimulate the economy, relieve congestion and reduce unemployment during the Great Depression. Amongst these schemes was an extension of the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle tube station via Camberwell Green towards Denmark Hill via Peckham Rye, Camberwell New Road, Albany Road South, Rectory Grove.

The Bakerloo line extension to Lewisham is a plan, originally proposed by the London County Council in 1930 under the name Camberwell Extension, to extend the Bakerloo line of the London Underground to Lewisham. There have been three such proposals: one planned in the 1920s and two others planned in the 1930s and 1980s respectively. Additional proposals for lines from New Cross to Deptford and from New Cross or Camberwell to Peckham have also been made.

An extension of the Bakerloo line to Lewisham and Hayes is currently being planned, with a targeted completion date of 2025. The extension's planned route will be via Camberwell New Road, with a station at Poplar, a station at Welsh Harp, a station at Prince of Wales Road, a station at Ruskin Park, a station at Lewisham town centre and terminus stations at Hayes and Penge East (where connections to the East London Line would be made).

The proposed route would branch from the existing Bakerloo Line south of Elephant & Castle station at an interchange with the London Overground to serve Camberwell and Peckham Rye. Construction could start in 2015, with a date for the extension of 2017, and provide direct services from the City of London, via Elephant & Castle, to Lewisham and Hayes. The Bakerloo line extension to Lewisham, where I live, was approved in 1931. This is above ground in a residential area of South East London.

Bakerloo Line Extension To Watford Junction

It was proposed that the extension would take over part of the North London line between Euston and Watford Junction, with services running on from there to Watford High Street via the existing Watford DC line. The idea behind this plan was that it would boost interchange between National Rail services north of the River Thames and London Underground. In 2009, proposals were unveiled to extend Bakerloo services from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham via Peckham Rye by 2014 as part of a major overhaul of public transport in south London.

This plan modifies the 2007 proposal by taking over much of South London Network route (which is set to replace current infrastructure south of the river along with adding new infrastructure) whilst still being linked to the North London line. The proposal would have seen the line extended from Baker Street to Watford Junction via Queen's Park stations, and then continuing via Croxley Green to Watford High Street and terminating at Watford Junction. This consultation proposed guided bus as an alternative mode of transport for route 2, as the infrastructure for rail was not available at that time.

The scheme was subsequently postponed in 2009 With talk of Crossrail 2, there has been speculation about extending the Bakerloo line again to cope with growing demand on the London Underground network. These plans would see the line extended from Elephant and Castle to Lewisham via Camberwell, Denmark Hill, Clapham Junction and Clap. In 2007, as part of the initial preparations for the North London line (NLL) transfer to what became London Overground, Transport for London (TfL) considered the possibility of re-extending the Bakerloo line on a long new route from Elephant & Castle tube station via Kennington, Queen's Park, Finchley Central and then following the route of the NLL to Watford Junction railway station.

On 12 November 2009, TfL proposed that the Bakerloo line be extended from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham and then take over the Hayes branch of the Docklands Light Railway to Hayes and Harlington. Transport for London (TfL) has proposed extending the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction via the West End. This would provide an interchange with the West Coast Main Line. [need quotation to verify]. Today’s announcement is underground and goes through the heart of the capital.

Central Line Extension To Uxbridge

A proposal to extend the Central line from West Ruislip to Uxbridge was considered by the Department for Transport in 2011 as part of its draft London Rail plan. The document listed eight potential rail schemes, based on submissions made by local authorities, transport agencies and stakeholder organisations throughout the United Kingdom, which included proposals to extend the Central line from West Ruislip to Uxbridge via Ickenham. The 'Central line extension to Uxbridge'option would see three new stations built along the route – Croxley Green and Cockfosters (both in Hertfordshire), and a new station at St Albans City Road – with a 60-metre (200 ft) deep section of tunnel below the Grand Union.

In 2011, the London Borough of Hillingdon has proposed that the Central line be extended from West Ruislip to Uxbridge via Ickenham, claiming this would cut traffic on the A40 in the area. The extension has been rejected by TfL because it does not meet strict cost-effectiveness criteria and is unlikely to generate sufficient new passengers to cover its £500 million capital cost; however, local politicians believe TfL are being short-sighted and that a detailed study should be carried out.

Local councillors also pointed out that the Metropolitan line has been extended several times so it should not be impossible to do. The Transport Studies Unit of University College London, which carried out a report commissioned by the borough of Hillingdon in 2007, has suggested that the extension would be an option for relieving congestion, noting that there are apparent shortcomings with extending other lines in the area, such as "the directness of the route and presence of intermediate stations could favour this option" .

The extension from West Ruislip to Uxbridge was estimated to cost £2. 35 billion. The proposals would see the Uxbridge branch extended from West Ruislip to Ickenham via Northolt and Hayes, which would leave the existing London Underground line between West Ruislip and Uxbridge unchanged. This has been opposed by Hillingdon Council's principal planning officer, Fred Young, as well as Malcolm Cowan (leader) and Brian Connell (cabinet member for transport) of Hillingdon Borough Council, and Martin Linton, MP for Battersea.

It is proposed that just over half of the extension will run alongside the A40, rather than being in a tunnel. The extension will link with the Metropolitan line at South Harrow station, continuing north of the current terminus at Northolt to Yeading via West Ruislip (the next station) and Ickenham (the third-closest station to Uxbridge). Central Line Extension to Uxbridge – Proposal recommends extending the Central line of London Underground from West Ruislip to Uxbridge.

The extension will involve laying new track along the former Wood Lane Railway Viaduct between Ruislip and Ickenham, a distance of just over 2 miles. It makes you wonder if Mr Johnson's willingness to do what his predecessor didn't is anything more than cheap electoral gimmicks. The north fountain was designed to be large and impressive. It is decorated with high reliefs of some of the famous ships that have been a part of British History: Mary Rose (1545), Victory and HMS Temeraire (1805).

Delays And Overcrowding

In November 2010, a video showing overcrowded trains during the morning rush hour in Métro system of Paris was posted on the Internet by a passenger. The minister responsible for transport, Frédéric Cuvillier, declared that "the end of 2011 will mark the beginning of a new era for the Parisian public transport". He announced that 50 stations would be renovated and equipped with 3,000 new ticket machines; subway line 14 would also be extended to the city limits.

During rush hour, the subway is often packed to the extent that it can be difficult to board at all. Crowded trains frequently make standing passengers unable to reach and grab hold of the straps. As a consequence, they fall off the train after a few stops. Moreover, some of the doors malfunction and do not re-open once closed. All these factors may cause an average delay of 3 minutes in the morning and 4 minutes in the evening.

Disused And Abandoned Stations

At its opening in 1863, the Metropolitan Railway consisted of just six stations. By 1915, the line had been extended to run from the railway's original terminus at Paddington to its current western terminus at Hammersmith (Praed Street), with a second east-west deep-level tube line running from King William Street in the City of London to Mansion House (also then known as 'Royal Exchange'and now known as 'Monument') on the banks of the River Thames.

Greater London Council Era

In 1979, the GLC was abolished; responsibility for London Transport was transferred to a new statutory authority, the London Regional Transport which until 2000 was owned by a public corporation of the same name. The London Regional Transport brand continued to be used, and it was only in 2000 that some London buses started carrying the Transport for London brand. In September 1994, as part of an upgrade of its ageing fleet, London Transport placed an order for 100 new articulated buses.

However, due to weight increases from the optional diesel-electric hybrid powertrain package mandated by London's Low Emission Zone scheme and other design changes including additional windows (to improve visibility and comfort), these Wright-bodied Dennis Tridents were around 50% heavier than their predecessors and resulted in damage. The Transport Act of 1985 created a statutory framework for the privatisation of British Rail, and in 1986 the GLC was abolished and replaced by the Greater London Authority.

The GLC had been responsible for fare concessions on London Underground, paying the GLC fare instead of the full rate for journeys wholly within the area served by the GLC. The differentials between these fares and those charged outside London were unpopular with non-GLC users who contributed more than half the total income from fares; this contributed significantly to the unpopularity of the GLC and its abolition in 1986. It was also felt that as London transport users paid rates to their local borough councils towards the cost of running London Transport, it was only fair that they should have representation on how.

In February 1974, the GLC London Transport Passenger Operations (LT POP) division was renamed as London Transport Executive (LTE), to mark its separation from the organisation. LTE's original logo was of concentric rings reminiscent of a target, on a blue background. It was derived from the London Transport roundel logo and had been used since 1970 in publicity material but not for staff or vehicles. Following LT Crafts based on the transport roundel were commissioned by David Gunn as part of a corporate re-branding programme.

The changeover took place over 12–14 months with 'London Transport'fading from red to black and the circle being replaced by an elliptical version (with orange dot) in the existing Transport Blue colour. The GLC was created on 1 April 1965, under the London Government Act 1963. The new authority replaced three local authorities: (1) the Metropolitan Borough of London, which had responsibility for transport, and was abolished, with its transport functions taken over by the new Greater London Council; (2) the County of London, which took over responsibility for mental health services; and (3) the Metropolitan Police District (established in 1829), which was replaced by the Metropolitan Police Service.

London Transport's existence was threatened in 1985 when the Greater London Council (GLC) was abolished and responsibility for transport was taken over by the directly elected Mayor of London and London Transport Board was replaced by an executives board within it: London Transport Executive, consisting of senior managers. In the years since the first parts of the London Underground opened, many stations and routes have been closed or partially closed. Prior to passenger use of the Underground, a section of Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon was used for various test trains.

Infrastructure

Here is a list of things you need to know about the process: The tender is split into two lots, one for each line. Previous London Underground rolling stock was manufactured by Metro-Cammell, which built most of the 1967 tube-train fleet and all examples built since 1993. However, in July 2012 it was announced that the contract to manufacture these new trains would not be renewed. The new contract went to Bombardier Transportation in September 2014.

   In October 2016, Transport for London is expected to spend £3m on its own fit-out of a former workshop in Annesley in Derby where maintenance will be carried out on 'new trains'. The Northern line extension towards Battersea will include three newly built stations on a branch from Kennington: Nine Elms, Battersea Power Station and Battersea. Two of these (Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station) will be built at a location away from the existing National Rail stations.

However, only one of these two is to be served by the Northern line extension. London Underground’s Jubilee line commenced services through the new tunnels on 20 November 1999, and ran partially on its new route to Stratford from 9 November 1999 to 19 November 1999. The rest of the northern extension opened on 14 December 1999. The trains are being built by Bombardier in Derby for the Northern and Jubilee lines. The first train arrived at Acton Works on 3 October 2014.

Lines

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of greater London and adjacent parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in England. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, opened between Paddington and Farringdon on 10 January 1863. At the time of opening it was only the second underground railway to have ever been built, after the less successful pneumatic Popelines network opened in Lyon in 1869. Since 2007, the London Underground network has included one line that is not train-operated overground (or " Overground"), but rather runs partly on overground tracks: the Docklands Light Railway.

The London Underground is an underground railway network serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex, England. Serving more than five million passengers a day, it is the second longest after the Beijing Subway system. Ongoing expansion work will see half of the network's track updated by 2022, though not all of the lines will be expanded to 3rd rail standards. Despite its name, only 45% of its tunnel length is actually underground.

The London Underground is the world's oldest and longest metro system. It is made up of 11 colour-coded lines, serving 270 stations — the most of any metro system in the world. The first line to open was in 1863 from Paddington to Farringdon and it now transports roughly 1. 357billion passengers per year. Over 4,800 people have lost their lives working on construction of the network. The London Underground is the world's first underground and metro system, covering a large part of Greater London.

It is one of the oldest underground railway systems in the world. It opened in 1863 and since then has been expanded greatly with more than 270 stations on eleven lines. There are 15 lines, most of them named after the sections of the Circle line they run through. The Watford DC line is the only line not to originate from London Underground or Crossrail; it was part of the former Metropolitan line. The London Underground network is the oldest underground electric railway network in the world, The first line opened in 1863.

London Regional Transport Era

In 1986 the LRT was renamed London Transport Executive (LTE). In April of that year, LRT/LTE moved from Olympia into a new purpose built office building at 55 Broadway, close to St. James's Park tube station. This was part of a move out of central London by both "London Transport" and its parent body, the Greater London Council (GLC) and was designed to facilitate easier cooperation between the various organisations that then existed. Many staff had already transferred to LTE from other GLC controlled transport companies: London Transport Division (LT) in January 1982 and the Country Bus Services in December 1982.

During the London Regional Transport era from 1984 to 2000, buses were painted in a traditional red livery, with a green and gold band around the centre of the bus. Sixty eight buses in this livery became famous for their role in assisting with the clean-up after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. A small batch of Leyland Olympians also received this colour scheme being used primarily on services 76 and 277 until 1994 when they were replaced by newer vehicles.

When the Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, all bus services within its jurisdiction were passed to the control of London Regional Transport. It was essentially a reorganisation of the existing state-controlled bus network integrated by the GLC, and London Buses Limited remained as a subsidiary. A new orange corporate identity was introduced along with a fleetname of the same colour. Initially, little was changed other than the name and livery, as the new operator simply continued with control of existing routes until 1985.

Main Line Services Using Lu Tracks

The London Underground A Division consists of nineteen lines that serve 270 stations. The lines are lettered/lettered from a to e, and numbered/numbered 1 to 14, but there is no 'l'line. This division services predominantly inner-London suburbs on a radial core where the tracks run underground. In contrast, some of these services on this division have been upgraded to provide LU-style service for the outer suburbs based upon main rail routes shared by Chiltern Railways, South Western Railway and Southern.

The following table shows the main national mainline services operated using LU tracks in tunnel or on viaduct. In 1985 the Central Area became a separate unit, as did the Croydon Tramlink operation. The London Regional Transport brand was created with much fanfare at the time, and is very noticeable in its bus stop adverts. The network has expanded to 11 lines, 117 stations and 250 miles of route. These were withdrawn in 1883 before any passengers had been carried on them.

New Trains For Deep-Level Lines

Taking up the first part of this deal, future orders may cover the Northern line extension to Battersea. On 12 December 2010, Transport for London announced plans to order 84 new trains for the sub-surface railway and the deep-level Victoria line. Each train is capable of carrying 1,500 passengers (the current ones carry 1,200) and provides increased capacity on each train by removing the need for a driving cab at each end of every carriage.

An extra 10 cm (4 in) of capacity will be added to each carriage. The trains would be an entirely new design, with London Underground's director of strategy and service development, Sean McCarthy, saying that they would take "key learnings" from the New York City Subway's R186 subway cars.  TfL is currently considering whether to purchase a fleet capable of running with Automatic Train Operation (ATO) capability, as currently there are no plans to install the ATO systems onto the lines.

Current deep-level train (D stock) manufacturers are Bombardier Transportation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Alstom. Overcrowding on the deep/sub-surface lines is expected to get worse until the completion of the new S Stock in 2023. Transport for London have stated that the new trains are likely to be four-carriage trains rather than six-carriage trains. In June 2014, Transport for London (TfL) announced that it had appointed Siemens as the preferred bidder for its rolling stock order on the Northern line and Jubilee line.

The contract is for up to 68 new trains over a ten-year period at a cost of £1. 5 billion, with automatic train operation and installation of a new signalling system.  In mid-2015 Docklands Light Railway started taking delivery of 48 Bombardier Aventra five-car trains. Four-car trains running on London Underground lines are being lengthened to six cars with the insertion of another motor coach by Edgware, West Hampstead and Kilburn depots.

Night Tube

The Night Tube concept had been discussed by then Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Transport for London since 2012. The 24-hour service, branded as the Night Tube, began on the Central Line on 19 August 2016. It was followed by the introduction of a 24-hour service on the Victoria Line on the weekends beginning on Friday 5 September and continuing through until Sunday evenings to 4 March 2017. Night Tube services were due to be introduced on the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines in late 2016/early 2017 to coincide with completion of the upgrade works on those lines.

Do you need to head out after work on a Friday or Saturday night? Are you tired of having to hang around at home or with friends until the tube re-opens at 5:30am? Well, there’s now another option that’s more convenient than hiring a car or waiting for the bus. The “Night Tube” was launched in London on 19th August 2016 on the Victoria and Central lines. If you live or work in these areas, this new service will be of great benefit to you.

Aside from the obvious benefits of it being great for businesses, commuters and Londoners in general, this new service is also set to give an enormous boost to night time economies around key stations. How? By increasing footfall and creating new opportunities for night time shoppers and venues. An increase in tube users is bound to be a good thing for business no matter what the time of day. New trains for deep-level lines.

Northern Line Extension To Battersea Power Station

The plan is now to extend the line from Kennington via Battersea, with new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. The extension would be 2·7 miles (4·3 km) long, and would cost approximately £350 million. It is to be built as a single-track diversionary line serving existing stations, with provisions built for an eventual second track, and would connect the Charing Cross Branch Line to Hammersmith via Kennington. In the future, it could serve as a bypass route if capacity through Oxford Circus became restricted, providing alternative access between South London and the West End.

Extending the Northern line was first proposed in the 1960s. In 1989, work certainly seemed imminent, with the route planned and approved, and earthworks begun at Battersea Power Station. A Department of Transport brief for a rail map published that year included a suggested opening date of 1994. However, these works were abandoned following objections from English Heritage, on the grounds that some structures within and around the listed Battersea Power Station would have had to be demolished to make way for the extension.

The extension was originally proposed in February 2008 as part of the wider Battersea Power Station development, comprising a planning application for up to 8,000 new homes, with a Northern line station included within the masterplan. The Mayor of London published an update to his Mayoral Transport Strategy in September 2010 accepting all of the key principles of the local authority's Transport Strategy. The Northern Line's tracks at Kennington are also being extended to Battersea via Nine Elms as part of the extension.

Proposed Improvements And Expansions

The Northern line is being extended with a new station at Battersea to provide interchange with the Elizabeth Line that will be opened in 2020. The extension is scheduled for completion in 2020, and was originally proposed in 2012. The Northern line platforms of Kennington station are being extended to allow terminating London Overground services to continue on to Bank. Kennington station was previously an intermediate station of the Circle and District lines''Hammersmith branch', removed as part of a 1935-40 New Works Programme modernisation.

After a long period of reconstruction works, the new extension opened on 23 May 2010. A new branch of the Northern line will be created, from Kennington station to Battersea Power Station, via Nine Elms. It was announced in December 2012 as part of a raft of transport projects and funding plans including an extension to the line at its southern end, with an underground station at Battersea Power Station. The cost is expected to be around £500m for the section from Kennington to Battersea, which will include three new stations.

In March 2016 construction commenced on site preparation. The Northern Line Extension is due for completion in 2020. Despite recent extensions, like the one at Canada Water station in November 2015, some sections of the Northern line are still very short compared to the now "Deep Tube" lines. By being a deep-level tube line, the track and platforms can be straightened out, resulting in faster and more reliable journeys. The junctions at Camden Town and Kennington would be eliminated by a new route from Charing Cross via Trafalgar Square and Aldwych to Moorgate.

This is called the RUSK option (after RUSe Kennington to Kings Cross). The extension includes two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms. The two new stations, along with the existing station at Kennington, will have platform extensions to accommodate the 200 metre-long Crossrail trains, and step-free access via a lift from platform to street level, for example. The existing ticket hall and passenger facilities at Kennington are to be expanded and improved also.

TfL announced plans to extend the Northern line to Battersea Power Station via Nine Elms on 9 July 2013 at an estimated cost of £1. 25bn which would fund two-thirds of the project. The extension is being partly funded by NSW, Wandsworth and Lambeth councils with contributions totalling £489 million.  The proposed route will serve five new stations. The proposal will be considered in a Transport and Works Act order application due to be submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport in mid-2015.

Research

The first major study of the London Underground was published by R. C. Kennedy in two parts (1932, 1933). The first overall description of the system was by Sir Alexander Binnie and Lord Ashfield in 1938. Richard Stott's Oxford Metro Archive site hosts a substantial collection of historical documentation relating to the Underground and associated rail services, including maps, route plans and photographs. This work is complemented by that of Andrew Williams's Metroplitan Railway Society site, which is similarly concerned with preservation efforts for this material.

Neither collection is comprehensive; for instance Stott has only a fraction of Binnie's material, and some items exist only in Oxford or London. The London Underground is a 150-year-old rapid transit system serving a metropolitan area of over 7 million people. Because it is one of the oldest systems in the world, it has evolved to a point where management of its day-to-day operations is very different from that of its early years. Additionally, an understanding of how and why the Underground operates differently than most metro railways can be gained by studying this system.

There are hundreds of published books that detail the history of the London Underground and its related entertainment and tourism industries. These fall into several categories. The most common is a detailed description of the engineering characteristics of various lines or the operation, including maps showing the network's complicated web of inter-connecting tunnels, railway lines and other infrastructure. The London Underground is one of the most complex and integrated transport systems in the world, with many different modes of transit being used including suburban rail, urban heavy rail, light rail, monorail and people mover systems.

Services Using Former And Current Main Lines

There are some stations that were formerly on the Underground network, including Aldwych and Tower Gateway. Aldwych was closed in 1994 due to low usage and its proximity to Waterloo (only 200 metres distance) and Holborn (300 metres), but it was reopened on 21 May 2015 as a museum station. Tower Gateway was opened in 1999, using the approach that was previously used to bring the Jubilee Line beneath the River Thames between 1979–1997.

It was closed in September 2008 owing to low passenger numbers. The Underground features National Rail interchanges at Crouch Hill, Colindale, Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford. Since the early 1990s, these have been joint National Rail/London Underground stations; prior to this they were mainline railway or underground-only stations. The Underground is a common nickname for the network of largely underground tube railways in and around London, England. The name is used to refer to the entire passenger railway network serving Greater London, even though not all lines are underground.

The Underground includes the use of numerous railways and alignments that were built by their respective railway companies including parts of several defunct main lines. Several Underground lines use former main-line railways, also called '''C Class Routes'''. These lines include. Here is a list of the former main lines used by Network Rail that are currently used by London Underground. Different classes of travel include standard class on London Underground lines; accessibility features; ticket types; and pricing structures.

The Tube Challenge

The Tube Challenge is perhaps Britain’s greatest cult sporting phenomenon. There are fanzines in the Underground system which sell for 50 pence, celebrating the best times of different challengers. There is a league table, updated each month, on the wall at the ticket office of Baker Street station, which has 16 million customers a year. The names of Dave Barter and Roger Baumgarten are always in the top 10. Baumgarten now holds the official British record, having completed his challenge in a time of 6 hrs 51 mins 22 secs on November 8-9 last year.

The Tube Challenge (or Tube Dash) is a competition for the fastest time to travel to all London Underground stations, tracked by Guinness World Records since 1960. The goal of this challenge is to visit all stations on the system, but not necessarily using all the lines; participants may connect between stations on foot, or by using other forms of public transport. Since the start of the competition it is estimated that more than 300 people have attempted the challenge, though not all have completed it.

Under Construction Line Extensions

A new extension of the line to Battersea Power Station is due to be completed in 2020, with major redevelopment of the area around Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms. The extension will link existing stations at Clapham Junction, Lambeth North, Victoria and Vauxhall and new stations at Battersea Power Station itself (situated in an redeveloped building and beside the river) and Nine Elms (between Vauxhall and Stockwell). The Northern line is one of eleven lines of the London Underground.

With more than 34 million passengers every year, it is the third busiest line on the network. The extension will increase central London's rail capacity by 10%. Battersea Power Station will be served by four new lifts from street level, and fourteen new escalators once complete. The Northern line is being extended from Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Nine Elms, serving the Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms development areas. In April 2013, Transport for London applied for the legal powers of a Transport and Works Act Order to proceed with the extension.

Preparation works started in early 2015. A Transport and Works Act Order was granted in September 2015, allowing construction to begin. In November 2015, a consortium of Ferrovial Agroman Laing O'Rourke, Bechtel and Sir Robert McAlpine was awarded the £1. 4bn ($2. 3bn) contract for the extension. Construction began in January 2016. All records listed in this table are from the official website. No information is given as to which line(s) visiting stations were taken.