Sadly, nothing to do with The Jam! On 10 January 1863 The Metropolitan Railway opened the world’s first underground railway between Paddington (then known as Bishop’s Road) and Farringdon Street
London’s underground system has a track length of 250 miles (402 km) of standard gauge railroad track using a 650 volt direct current electrical supply delivered via a third rail. Trains run at an average speed of 21 mph (33 kph) serving about 5 million passengers daily
The system’s earliest tunnels were constructed using a cut-and-cover method but later tunnels were dug or bored at deeper levels. Despite being known as “The Tube”; only 45% of the network is actually in a tunnel
Early tube lines were owned by separate private companies which were brought together in the early 20th Century and merged with the bus service to form London Transport in 1933, controlled by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The current operator is London Underground Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London
LPTB was a significant art and design patron of the Modernist Style, commissioning artwork, posters and station buildings
The universal recognised UNDERGROUND branding roundel and font ‘Johnston’ was created by Edward Johnston in 1916 and the schematic tube map, designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted a National Design Icon in 2006
