when were electric trains introduced in the uk
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.
History of the London Underground In the first half of the 19th century, London had grown greatly and the development of a commuting population arriving by train each day led to traffic congestion with carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads.[3] By 1850 there were seven railway termini located around the urban centre of London[4] and the concept of an underground railway linking the City of London with these stations was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City of London, was a leading promoter of several schemes,[5] and he contributed to the creation of the City Terminus Company to build such a railway from Farringdon to King's Cross in 1852 . Although the plan was supported by the City of London, the railway companies were not interested and the company struggled to proceed.[6] In 1854 the Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was granted permission to build an underground line at an estimated cost of £1 million. [7] [8] With the Crimean War under way, the Met found it hard to raise the capital,[6] and construction did not start until March 1860.[9] The railway was mostly built using the "cut-and-cover" method from Paddington to King's Cross; east of King's Cross it was built by tunnelling and then followed the culverted River Fleet in an open cutting to the new meat market at Smithfield.[10][11] The 3.75-mile (6 km) railway opened to the public on 10 January 1863, using steam locomotives hauling wooden carriages.[12] It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service.[13] In the first twelve months 9.5 million passengers were carried[11] and in the second twelve months this increased to 12 million.[14]