The London Underground Railway

Too Long; Didn't Read

The opening recently of the extension of the Metropolitan Railway to Harrow, and the early commencement of another of the lines of the company, give especial prominence to it. The Metropolitan Underground Railway is emphatically the great passenger railway of the country, for its few miles of line carry more than the hundreds of miles of line of companies such as the London and North Western or Great Western. Seventeen years ago—in 1868—the Metropolitan carried less than 10,000,000 passengers, and in the full year's work of the following twelve months it carried less than 12,000,000. But year by year, almost without exception, the number of passengers has grown. In 1865, over 15,000,000 passengers were carried; in 1867, over 23,000,000; and in 1870, over 39,000,000 passengers traveled on the line. The years that have since passed have swollen that number. In 1872, over 44,300,000 were carried, but in the following year there was one of the few checks, and not till 1875 was the number of 1872 exceeded. In 1875 it rose to 48,302,000; in 1877 it had advanced to 56,175,000; in 1878 to 58,807,000; and in 1879 to 60,747,000. In the present year there has been a further advance, the number carried for the first six months of the present year being 31,592,429. When it is borne in mind that this is equal to 7,272 passengers every hour, and that the length of line worked by the company's engines, including that of the "foreign" line worked, is slightly less than 25 miles, the fecundity in traffic of the metropolitan district must be said to be marvelous. It is to be regretted that the official account from which these figures are given does not give any idea of the number of passengers in the different classes, for such a return would be of value. It is a marvelous fact in the history of locomotion that this great passenger traffic is worked with not more than 53 engines, while the total number of carriages, 195, is in comparison with the number of travelers in them a marvel in railway history. But it is tolerably clear that there is yet a vast amount of undeveloped metropolitan traffic, and it is also certain that as that traffic is developed the future of the Metropolitan as it attains more completeness will be brighter even than it has been in the past. The great city is more and more the mart of the world, and the traffic and travel to and in it must increase. That increase will be shared in considerable degree by the "underground" companies, and as they have shown that their capabilities of traffic are almost boundless, it may be expected that the oldest and the chief of these will in the early future know a growth as continuous if less rapid than in the past.