“It promises to join up various portions of the metropolis with what has been described as an ‘inner ring’ represented by the Metropolitan District Railway. New lines will bring passengers from east, west, north and south to the District system….”
(The Economist dated April 12, 1902)
Consider the following fact: the London Underground handles an estimated 3.5 million passenger journeys each day, and its trains travel around 76 million kilometres each year. How did it originate and what were the impacts it had on spatial development and human geography across time? The late nineteenth and early twentieth century were an era of sizable increase in railway construction in London. Modern day London Underground traces its predecessors from the Underground Electric Railway Company of London Limited (UERL) established in 1902 with a share capital of £5 million. UERL was a holding company for the construction of several underground railways in London in 1906 and 1907. These comprised of the Baker Street and Waterloo railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton railway. This was implemented at an estimated total cost of £16 million.