Underground Electric Railway Research Articles

First continental underground electric railway, Budapest 1896

In 1871, a municipal commission in charge of city planning in Budapest introduced an urban development plan based on a concentric annular structure and several large radials. Another element of the plan was the attractive Andrássy Avenue linking the inner city to the city park (Városliget). In 1893, the Siemens & Halske Company developed a project for a shallowly buried railway that was to extend the entire length of the new avenue. The 3690 m long line, inaugurated in 1896, was mainland Europe’s first underground electric railway, preceded only by London’s underground (1890). In the early 1970s, complete restructuring was carried out because of increases in traffic and construction of the underground network. The short surface segment on the inside of the park was taken out of service, the segment between the two stations was buried and the line was extended to the current terminus, beyond the outer boulevard. The subway was then entirely refurbished in 1994–1996. This paper highlights the particular adaptive capacities of the small M1 line, which remains, after more than a century and despite the singular nature of the initial project, perfectly integrated in Budapest’s transport system.

Tube Centenary: 100 Years of Underground Electric Railways Exhibition at the London Transport Museum, 18 May 1990 to 6 October 1991

Tube Centenary: 100 Years of Underground Electric Railways Exhibition at the London Transport Museum, 18 May 1990 to 6 October 1991

Tube Centenary: 100 Years of Underground Electric Railways Exhibition at the London Transport Museum, 18 May 1990 to 6 October 1991

Tube Centenary: 100 Years of Underground Electric Railways Exhibition at the London Transport Museum, 18 May 1990 to 6 October 1991

Lorenzo of the Underground

BENEATH the smog and the traffic jams, cheerful, colourfully-dressed people glide down escalators, through clean white tunnels and in sleek silent bright , carriages are carried to every corner of the city. Their motion is effortless; there are no delays. This was the vision of travel as it might be, not a daily inconvenience, but a means to a richer life and itself a spiritual and uplifting experience. And such it was hoped London's Underground railways might become, a transport system fit for the celestial city. In spite of the present realities of staff shortages, dirt and mechanical failures, one can still glimpse the optimism as one stands in the faded glory of a suburban Piccadilly line station; and it is still true that of all the transport systems in the world, London's came closest to realising that dream of celestial perfection. Much of the character of London Transport was due to the dedication of one man in particular, Frank Pick, who between 1906 and 1940 managed successive parts and ultimately the whole of London's transport system. The centenary of his birth was 'celebrated at the Victoria & Albert Museum by a small exhibition organised jointly by the Museum and London Transport. Called Teaspoons to Trains, it covered his'interest in design both in his official capacity as manager of London Transport, and in his personal support of the Design and Industries Association.* 'London Transport as we know it today was formed out of the many different underground railway, bus and tram companies that were merged with the Underground Electric Railway Company of London (UERL) between 1912 and 1933 under the chairmanship of A. H. Stanley (created Lord Ashfield in 1920). In 1933, the combine became a public corporation, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The very remarkable story of the mergers and the ultimate formation of the LPTBis told by T. C. Barker and Michael Robbins in volume two of their History of London Transport, published in 1974. Pick joined the UERL in 1906 and from 1912, as commercial manager and subsequently managing director, had the job of making this miscellany of companies work. Pick's own view was that the whole of London's transport should be run as one united operation, under a single management, a goal which was partly though not fully achieved with the LPTB. While it was Ashfield who engineered the mergers and made the ideal of a single management possible, it

The electrical equipment of the Toronto subway cars

The paper deals with the 600-volt rolling stock designed and built in England to the order of the Toronto Transportation Commission in Canada (since reconstituted as the Toronto Transit Commission), whose new underground electric railway is now in passenger service. The traction equipment is described, together with the arrangements for the collection of power by the trains and its distribution in them. Particular reference is made to the provisions for the safe return of current to the rails. The low-voltage auxiliary equipment is described, and the extensive arrangements for coach heating and ventilation are set out; the electro-pneumatic braking system and door control are also detailed. The descriptions are preceded by a survey of the traffic problems of the city of Toronto and the decisions taken to expedite the movement of its urban passengers. The paper closes with a few comparisons with similar stock elsewhere and gives numerical data in an appendix.

The Atmosphere of the Underground Electric Railways of London: A Study of its Bacterial Content in 1920

1. The bacterial content of the air of the Underground Railways, when the average of all results of the bacteriological investigations is taken, does not numerically compare unfavourably with the outside air of London.2. The ratio of the number of organisms growing at room temperature appears to be about 14 for railway air to 10 outside air. For those growing at body temperature the ratio is considerably higher, namely 2 to 1 respectively. The mean per litre, for room temperature organisms, is about 9 in railway air, 6·3 in the outside air; for body temperature organisms 4·6 for railway air, 2·2 for outside air.3. The bacterial content of platform air, except on the City and South London Railway, would appear to be higher than that of carriage air; the total mean for platform air being 52 and for carriage air 42·8 organisms per 5 litres, or a ratio of 16·4 and 13·5 respectively to 10 of the open air. The higher proportion in platform air is generally speaking to be accounted for by the greater amount of draught and dust disturbance.4. The ratios of the total bacterial content of railway carriage air and carriage and platform air on the six lines to open air are estimated in the following proportions:

Equipment of a generating station, with special reference to the chelsea station of the underground electric railway

Equipment of a generating station, with special reference to the chelsea station of the underground electric railway

Underground Electric Railways Abroad

Underground Electric Railways Abroad