The underground railway

The underground railways as a kind of city transport ap­peared in the second half of the 19th century. The first underground system was proposed for London by Charles Pearson in 1843. But most people criticized the project. It was spo­ken of as a fantasy. Indeed, when constructed, the Metropoli­tan line, as it was called, was not a success. It was a short distance railway, only a few miles in length, and Londoners went on travelling by surface transport as they feared to get deep under the ground. But this situation did not last long. Wishing to attract more passengers to the underground railway Alfred Stanley, General Manager of the Metropolitan line, filled the stations with flowers and wild animals in cages.

While travelling, however, public experienced many dis­comforts. The tunnels were made as small as possible in order to reduce construction costs. The coaches themselves were small and narrow. No wonder that people called this underground line a "sardine-box railway". The small windows in the trains were made in the roof so that passengers could see nothing. The oil and gas lamps used gave little light. So passengers wishing to read, while travelling, had to take candles with them. Besides, the steam locomotives filled the tunnels with steam and smoke. It was this discomfort that later on made engineers introduce electric traction.