where was the first section of underground railway opened in the world
London Underground The idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with some of the railway termini in its urban centre was proposed in the 1830s,[13] and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854.[14] To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, filled up.[15] The world's first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.[16] It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, and borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service.[17] The Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway) opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground "inner circle" connecting London's main-line termini.[18] The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884,[19] built using the cut and cover method.[20] Both railways expanded, the District building five branches to the west reaching Ealing, Hounslow,[21] Uxbridge,[22] Richmond and Wimbledon[21] and the Metropolitan eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80Â km) from Baker Street and the centre of London.[23]
Railway electrification in Great Britain The first electric railway in Great Britain was Volk's Electric Railway in Brighton, a pleasure railway, which opened in 1883, still functioning to this day. The London Underground began operating electric services using a fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway, now part of the London Underground Northern line. The Liverpool Overhead Railway followed in 1893, being designed from the outset to be electric traction, unlike the City and South London Railway which was designed to be cable hauled initially. Main line electrification of some suburban lines began in the early years of the 20th century, using a variety of different systems. In 1921 a government committee chose 1,500 V DC overhead to be the national standard,[3] but little implementation followed and many different systems co-existed. During the interwar period, the Southern Railway adopted the 660 V DC third rail system as its standard and greatly expanded this system across its network of lines south of London.