In article , Paul Weaver
writes
Looking at the history of the tube, the vast majority of it was built
between 1890 and the first world war. Obviously this was all
entrepreneurs, capitalists that produced the finest public transport
system of its day.

Whats happened since the end of the second world war? Nothing.

Quite a lot.

But you should actually be comparing before- and after-1933, when the
system was nationalised.

New lines since 1933:

Central: all the bits east of Liverpool Street, and the West Ruislip
branch, were planned in the late 1930s and opened after WW2.

H&C: service between Aldgate East and Barking started in 1936.

Jubilee: Baker Street to Finchley Road tunnels opened 1939 (the private
sector having failed to do anything about this bottleneck). The line
south/east of Baker Street is all 1979 or later.

Metropolitan: four-tracking north of Harrow-on-the-Hill and
electrification beyond Rickmansworth are 1960s.

Northern: the bits north of Archway were opened in the late 1930s or
early 1940s.

Piccadilly: Heathrow extension is 1970s & 1980s.

Victoria Line: built in the 1960s.

On a similar note, what geological problems are there preventing massive
tube expansion?

There's so much stuff at medium depth that new lines have to go much
deeper, possibly below the Blue Clay.

--
Clive D.W. Feather, writing for himself | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
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Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

In addition to the points already made concerning private enterprise,
it's worth bearing in mind that the tubes that were built in the
immediate wake of the City and South London Line sought to beat the
congestion in Central London caused by roads incapable of dealing with
the huge amount of horse-drawn traffic. In addition, they sought to
break into virgin suburbs in order to profit from suburban traffic.
However, the advent of the internal combustion engine lessened journey
times for all surface vehicles, making Central London sections much
less profitable, and the enormous capital sums required to build tube
lines were not compensated for by ticket receipts (railway companies
were banned from taking advantage of the appreciation in real estate
that resulted).

As a result, it became almost impossible to raise capital for tube
lines in the capital markets after about 1905. Edgar Speyer, a close
associate of Yerkes, informally broached the idea of selling the
Yerkes lines to the L.C.C. about this time, but nothing came of it.
All tube lines (and most other railway extensions, in London at least)
after 1915 and before nationalisation depended on the provision of
government assistance. This mostly consisted of loan guarantees.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, it was Clive D. W. Feather
), in message
who said:

But you should actually be comparing before- and after-1933, when the
system was nationalised.

New lines since 1933:

Central: all the bits east of Liverpool Street, and the West Ruislip
branch, were planned in the late 1930s and opened after WW2.


A large proportion of which ran over existing track which, funnily enough,
had been developed privately before nationalisation.


H&C: service between Aldgate East and Barking started in 1936.


Eh? That runs *entirely* over the existing network.

FFS, if that's going to be the line of logic, then TfL could introduce a
whole raft of new lines with new names, running over existing bits of the
network, and then claim expansion.


Jubilee: Baker Street to Finchley Road tunnels opened 1939 (the
private sector having failed to do anything about this bottleneck).
The line south/east of Baker Street is all 1979 or later.

Metropolitan: four-tracking north of Harrow-on-the-Hill and
electrification beyond Rickmansworth are 1960s.

Northern: the bits north of Archway were opened in the late 1930s or
early 1940s.


Over existing lines again.


Piccadilly: Heathrow extension is 1970s & 1980s.

Victoria Line: built in the 1960s.


The Vic and the Jubilee extension have been the only enhancements to the
system on a scale similar to the achievements of the 1863-1910 period.

BTN