London underground Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

London underground - Essay Example It is also the first railway network to operate electric trains, in 1890, which now forms part of Northern line. The purpose of this paper is to explore the history of the London underground, its map design, services, fare, and system. It will also discuss improvements that need to be made in order to improve its functionality, especially with regard to whether or not a ladies carriage should be opened. Finally, the paper will discuss the safety issues and the ridership statistics. The history of railway construction in the United Kingdom can be traced back to early 19th century in which six railway terminals were built on the outskirts of London at around 1854. This include the Euston, King’s Cross, London Bridge, Waterloo, Paddington and Bishopsgate. During this period, there was only the Fenchurch Street that was located at the central business district of London City. This saw an increase in traffic jams, partly due to the desire for rail travelers to be able to reach the city centre by road. Therefore, as a means to decongest traffic in London, a proposal that had been made in 1830s, to construct an underground railway to connect the London City with the mainline terminals was re-energized in 1850s. This was due to the public pressure exerted on the government by commuters who were concerned about the traffic congestion in the city, which led to a lot of delays to reach the London’s city centre where they worked. As a result, in 1855, an Act of Parliament was passed approving the building of an underground railway between Farringdon Street through King’s Cross and Paddington, which was to be called the Metropolitan Railway. The project received a financial backing from Great Western Railway (GWR) when it consented that a junction would be constructed to link underground railway and mainline terminus at Paddington. Moreover, the GWR also accepted to design distinctive trains to link with the new subterranean