Portal:London transport

The London transport portal

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London transport

The London transport system is one of the oldest and largest public transport systems in the world. Many components of its transport system, such as the double-decker bus, the Hackney Carriage black taxi and the London Underground, are internationally recognised symbols of London.

Most transport services in London are controlled by Transport for London (TfL), an executive agency of the Greater London Authority. TfL-controlled services include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the London Overground, Buses and Trams, most of which accept payment by the Oyster card. TfL also administers the congestion charge zone and the low emission zone.

London has a comprehensive rail network with several major railway stations linking to the rest of the country. International travel is possible from St Pancras International which connects to mainland Europe through the Eurostar service, or from one of six international airports, including Heathrow or Gatwick.

The M25 is an orbital motorway which enables vehicles to avoid travelling through central London and is one of the busiest motorways in Europe.

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Selected article
The Metropolitan Railway was a railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its mainline heading north from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex suburbs. Its first line connected the mainline railway termini at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross to the City. This was built beneath the New Road using the "cut-and-cover" method between Paddington and King's Cross and in tunnel and cuttings beside Farringdon Road from King's Cross to Smithfield, near the City. When, on 10 January 1863, this line opened with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, it was the world's first underground railway. The railway was soon extended from both ends and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. It reached Hammersmith in 1864, Richmond in 1877 and completed the Inner Circle in 1884, but the most important route became the line north into the Middlesex countryside, where it stimulated the development of new suburbs. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Baker Street and the centre of London. Electric traction was introduced in 1905 and by 1907 electric multiple units operated most of the services, though electrification of outlying sections did not occur until decades later. Unlike other railway companies in the London area, the Met developed land for housing and after World War I promoted housing estates near the railway with the "Metro-land" brand. On 1 July 1933, the Metropolitan Railway was amalgamated with the underground railways of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and the capital's tramway and bus operators to form the London Passenger Transport Board. Today, former Metropolitan Railway tracks and stations are used by the London Underground's Metropolitan, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines, and by Chiltern Railways. (Full article...) All selected articles
Selected biography
Stanley Heaps was an English architect responsible for the design of a number of stations on the London Underground system as well as the design of train depots and bus and trolleybus garages for London Transport. In 1903 Heaps became assistant to Leslie Green the architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) and aided him in the design of the station buildings for the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) and the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway; all distinctive with their striking red glazed terra cotta façades and semi-circular windows at first floor. Following the early death of Green in 1908, Heaps became the UERL's architect. His first independent station designs were for the four new stations on the Bakerloo line extension from Edgware Road Underground station opened in 1913 and 1915; the first stations on the system designed specifically to use escalators rather than lifts. After World War I, Heaps designed the stations for the 1923-4 extension of the CCE&HR from Golders Green to Edgware, giving them a suburban style in keeping with the new housing developments that were expected to grow around them. After the Edgware extension stations, Heaps concentrated on the design depot buildings, although he designed new stations at Osterley, Boston Manor and St. John's Wood. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that six tube stations are named after pubs: Angel, Elephant & Castle, Manor House, Maida Vale , Royal Oak and Swiss Cottage? ...that Sir Jacob Epstein's statute Day on the Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway caused controversy when it was unveiled due to the length of the penis on one of the figures? Epstein later reduced the length. ...that the shortest distance between two stations on the London Underground is 250 metres (0.16 miles), between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line? ...that Underground Electric Railways Company of London chairman Sir Edgar Speyer was accused of being a German spy during World War I? ... that the Royal Commission on London Traffic proposed constructing 9 miles (14 km) of avenues with railways underneath at the cost of £30 million in 1905? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 2Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 3Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 4Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 5Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 6TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 7The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
Image 8Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 9The newly constructed junction of the Westway (A40) and the West Cross Route (A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
Image 10A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 11Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 12Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 13Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 14Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 15View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 16Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 17London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
Image 18Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 19The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 20"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 21Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 22Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 23Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
Image 24Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 25Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 26London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 27Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 28Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 29The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 30London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 31Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 32Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 33The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 34Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 35Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 36Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 37Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 38Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 39London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
Image 40The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 41An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 42Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 43A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 44Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 45Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 46Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 47Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 48Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
Image 4955 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.