- Length – 387,9 km
- Number of stations – 247
- Length of double-track lines – 326.4 km
- Length of four-track lines – 30.4 km
- Single-track lines – 19.2 km
- Extension of three-track lines – 4.8 km
Average daily passenger flow:
- On weekdays about 2 million people.
- On weekends about – 1.5 million people.
Annual passenger traffic 570-600 million people.
Average distance a trip is about 8 km
The fare, depending on the range of the trip, in 1985 was:
- 1 mile – 10 pence.
- 1.5 miles – 15 pence
- 2 miles – 20 pence
- 2.5 miles – 25 pence, etc.*
Operating speed – 32.8 km/h
Track width – 1435 mm
Stock of rolling stock – about 4300 units.
Including 1300-1380 trailing cars
Number of depots – 12
Number of cars in the train:
- During rush hours – 3-8
- During off-peak hours – 3-4
Number of attendants – more than 21 000 people.
Including: drivers about 4,000 people.
About 7 900 people are employed by the traffic service.
Distance between stations:
- maximum – 6,2 km
- minimum – 0,26 km
- average – 1.1 km
Average depth of line embedding
deep – 24 m
shallow – 7.2 m
Deepest station “Hempstead” – 57,6 m
Length of station platforms – 107 m and 131 m
Number of stations with escalators – 71
Number of escalators – 272
Number of stations with elevators – 25
Number of elevators – 69
Number of fans in the stations – 100
Number of generating stations – 2
Number of traction substations – 113
Rated voltage 600 VDC
The Metropolitan operates from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Maintenance is carried out during four night hours. At peak hours, the interval between trains reaches 100-120 s. The train stands at the stations for 20-25 s to board passengers.
Current draw is usually performed from the third contact rail, installed at the side along the tracks. In the middle of the track another contact rail is laid for reverse current. Contact rails of current collector and reverse current are installed on porcelain insulators, which largely prevents stray currents, causing metal corrosion and reducing the reliability of signaling and communication devices.
The track rails are laid on wooden sleepers dressed in concrete jackets.
Elevators and escalators are used to take passengers to and from the trains.
Elevators are now preserved at 25 stations. Their lifting speed is 55 m/min for conventional and 91.5 m/min for high-speed elevators. Lift heights at these stations range from 20 to 54 m. Up to 50 people can be accommodated in the cabins.
Escalators are used at stations with a significant number of passengers. The first of them came into service in 1911. Speed of escalators movement is 0,5-0,75 m/s, 71 stations are equipped with them. The highest vertical height is 24 m at Leicester station.
The air conditioning and ventilation system is arranged so that the temperature is kept on the level of 23-25 degrees by Celsius (in the places of greatest accumulation of passengers). The fans have a capacity of 2400 m³ of air per second. However, under all these conditions, comfort is not ensured. Increased dustiness, insufficient lighting, clogged lobbies and platforms do not create a good mood for passengers when using this modern engineering structure.
The London Underground has a wide variety of equipment. Alongside the sections with obsolete rolling stock and obsolete equipment, there are highly automated modern lines where new cars with thyristor control, asynchronous traction motors, the latest electrical equipment and braking system are running at high speeds. In particular, Severnaya and Victoria lines are equipped with such modern equipment.
The introduction of modern automatic control systems on these lines made it possible to significantly reduce the number of employees and, consequently, to increase productivity, which is much higher here than on other lines built earlier.
Automatic devices were introduced throughout the operation of metro in stages.
At the first stage, electronic devices served to inform the personnel on duty about train movements.
In the second stage, automated control systems not only informed about the train position, but also partially controlled train traffic, freeing the dispatcher to handle more complex tasks.
In the third stage, automated systems took over full control of the transportation process. The personnel on duty only monitors operation and analyzes deviations from the schedule. Trains are automatically started, accelerated and decelerated, stopped at station platforms, and doors are closed. The driver only monitors the operation of the automatic train driving system.
On some line platforms there are emergency train stop buttons that give a warning signal to the driver demanding he stop. However, these buttons are rarely used by passengers to stop a train.
Train traffic of the Victoria and Severnaya lines is controlled from the central control center. The dispatcher center is equipped with a light display showing train situation and a display to which station TV cameras are connected. The information system allows the dispatcher to fully control the situation on the section and maintain radio communication with the train drivers and personnel on duty at the stations. The power supply to the section is provided by means of telecontrol, which significantly reduces the time for making operational switching operations.
Passenger information is available in three languages, for which a microprocessor-based display system is used, replacing the display system.
The London Underground operates several types of cars, including many cars built in 1938 and 1959. Recently, new cars created in 1983, which are an upgraded type of cars built in 1973, have been put into service. Significant changes were made in the design of the driver’s cabin: a more comfortable, adjustable seat, armored glass stained glasses, the handle of the controller was moved to the right side, which creates additional convenience.
The braking system was significantly upgraded; the hydraulic handbrake was replaced with a spring brake. A safety button is installed in the controller handle.
The car interior was also significantly changed. Due to slight relocation of end doors, reduction of the central door aperture width to 1067 mm it became possible to increase car capacity by 4 places.
Luminescent lamps with special coating increasing the illumination are used for car illumination, lenses are used not allowing glare, lighting equipment is small-sized. Ventilation is forced with thermostatic temperature regulation.
Electrical equipment of the cars has a high degree of reliability, circuits are simple, electronic devices greatly facilitated control of the traction and braking equipment.
Fault diagnosis systems of the electronic devices, operating with the use of microprocessors, were installed in the car for the first time.
Telemechanization of London Underground power supply devices started 20 years ago. Eight control centers were established. In 1979 a modernized control system was applied on the main line, two computers and telemechanical devices for traction substations and alphanumeric displays were installed in the control center.
Design of the track structure has its own specific features, as 475 km of lines are located in the open sections, 83 km in the tunnels with shallow embedding and 260 km in the tunnels with circular cross-section. Many sections of track have double-headed rails that rest on softwood or hardwood sleepers laid in concrete bases through cast-in-place pads. The service life of softwood sleepers is 25 years in open areas and 40 years in tunnel areas; for hardwood sleepers, it is 50 years.
Track works in the presence of two-head rails are carried out with significant use of manual labor, but recently new track designs have been developed that allow a greater degree of mechanization of track works. In deep and shallow tunnels track works are carried out in “windows” with the length of 3-4 hours. At the end of the week there are much more breaks in traffic. It is currently planned to lay the track in the open sections on ballast with 56 kg/m rails on reinforced concrete sleepers with prestressed concrete. The transition to this type of track is planned to start in 1987 and finish within 25-30 years. At present the round tunnels are mainly laid with rubber end shoe sleepers, which sharply reduces noise and vibration. Such a section is now in operation on the Thornpike Lane line and is showing encouraging results. Rail fasteners in this case are used of a design that facilitates rail change and track alignment by 9-15 mm.
On old sections the track is laid on wooden sleepers with crushed stone ballast. It is maintained with large deviations from the norms, as a result there is a need for a significant reduction in speed. Reconstruction of the track is very difficult, because it requires closure of traffic for a long time. Turnouts with double-headed rails have a large number of cast parts, which significantly reduces the reliability of construction and complicates repair, so provides for the installation of track on rails with a flat base, laid on conventional sleepers or half sleepers. This reconstruction is expected to implement within 50 years.
Newcastle Underground is one line with branches, the total length of which is 53.8 km (41 km of which are the old reconstructed lines of British Railways). New lines, built according to the standards of the Underground, have a length of 12.8 km and only some of them pass underground.
The entire metro is controlled from the Central Control Room, which is equipped with a scoreboard indicating the track development and signal scheme. Train numbers of the trains following the section are displayed on the scoreboard. The trains are moved using autotracking, but it can be switched to another method of control at the dispatcher’s command. The dispatcher is able to communicate by radio with the driver and, if necessary, transmit information to passengers. His station is equipped with special consoles with televisions, thus making it possible to continuously monitor train operation and the position at stations and runs. The dispatcher also controls the operation of various equipment, ticket vending machines, tunnel and station lighting, operation of escalators and automatic crossing points, etc.
Of the 41 stations, 24 are new, and 17 are former suburban line stations. The appearance of the suburban line stations is markedly different from the subway stations. Seven central underground stations are equipped with escalators and elevators for the disabled.
Almost all stations have 65 m long side platforms, and only the underground stations have 95 m long platforms, with a view to prospective passenger traffic increase.
The station lobbies are decorated in accordance with modern requirements to metro decoration (bright colors, plate, glazed panels, the floors are made of concrete slabs with marble chips, etc.). Checkpoints are equipped with ticket vending machines and return of change, turnstiles that let passengers through if they have a magnetic ticket.