what is the oldest line on the london underground
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,[18] and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854.[19] 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.[20] The world's first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.[21] It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, and borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service.[22] 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.[23] The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884,[24] built using the cut and cover method.[25] Both railways expanded, the District building five branches to the west reaching Ealing, Hounslow,[26] Uxbridge,[27] Richmond and Wimbledon[26] and the Metropolitan eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London.[28]
History of the New York City Subway The first underground line opened on October 27, 1904,[8] almost 35 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line.[9] By the time the first subway opened, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). Many present lines were built under the Dual Contracts, and after 1913, all lines built for the IRT and most other lines built or improved for the BRT were built by the city and leased to the companies. The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932; this system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down. However, it was kept within the core of the city because of the low amount of startup capital provided to the municipal Board of Transportation by the state.[10] This required it to be run "at cost", necessitating fares up to double the five-cent fare popular at the time.[11]