Some subways of the world

[France-Team]

Hello, I wanted to make a small turn of the world of the subways. For that I will present some subways of the five continents to you.

Africa

Subway of Algiers

Work of the subway of Algiers began in 1983 following the demographic explosion from the town of Algiers.
Line 1 wadi-koriche-Hussein-Dey would be operational in 2007.

I) History of the project
The project was strongly slowed down and fallit never not to lead because of political instability, of the terrorism and difficulties of financing. It was envisaged to replace it by the trammay but, considering the already committed sums for its realization (nearly 6 billion dollars) the State had of another choice only to register it in the various projects of finances. Its construction became one of large the challenges of infrastructure for the State with the new air terminal of Algiers and the East-West motorway, which are projects dating of more than 20 years. Its construction will require nearly 10 billion dollars.

II) Building site in progress
In 2001, a German company and a Frenchwoman, in partnership with the Algerian company "cosider", took again construction. Since work advance well, the rate of completion is 80%. Some stations are completed at 100% and their entries are visible, like that of "tafourah large post office". In 2004, Alstom obtained the market for the equipment rolling and the equipment of the stations for amount of 100 million euros. Method of very high technology are used to dig the of Algiers basement which is very difficult to exploit, the slope of 10 degrees of the station "tafourah large post office" is pilot.

III) Inauguration
When the subway of Algiers is operational, it will accomodate nearly 150.000 travellers per day, it will comprise 16 stations, and 14 km will be long. The subway of Algiers is regarded as a dream for the Inhabitants of Algiers, it will be a great puff of air for the town of Algiers and its inhabitants. The State would consider two other lines by 2020. By then, the Inhabitants of Algiers hope that the end of the tunnel is close!

Cairo subway

The Cairo Metro in Egypt is Africa's only full-fledged metro system. The system currently consists of two operational lines, with a third in an advanced stage of planning.

The metro is run by the National Authority for Tunnels. The line gauge is 1435 mm. Ticket price is EGP 0.75 for each ride (as of January 2005, EUR 0.10 or USD 0.13), regardless of distance. On all Cairo metros, the first car of each train is reserved for women.

I) Line 1
Line One (the red line) opened in 1987 after the joining of two existing above-ground lines with a large underground section through the city center. (Because of this, it is sometimes referred to as the "Regional Line".) The line runs a total of 43.5 km (27 miles) with 3 km (1.8 miles) underground, serves 33 stations, and has an a 60,000 hourly passenger capacity per direction. Sometimes known as the "French-Built Line", this metro runs from the industrial Helwan area in the south to El-Marg downtown. It is mostly above ground, but has the downtown section in below ground.

Mar Girgis station (Line 1)

II) Line 2
Cairo's metro network was greatly expanded in the mid-1990s with the building of Line Two (yellow), from Shoubra to Cairo University. Extending 19 km (11.8 miles) with 18 stations, it is sometimes called the "Japanese-Built Line" and includes the first underground crossing of the Nile. Line Two, which opened in four stages starting in October 1996 and finishing in 2000, has also been extended to Giza. It is mostly in bored tunnel, with two exceptions: a short section at the northern end approaching Shubra El-Kheima, which is elevated, and a section just south of this by cut-and-cover. The main difference between Line 1 and two is that Line 1 is overhead line while Line No.2 is Third-rail system.


Inside Metro Ataba (Line 2)

III) Plans
Four more lines are proposed — all with the goal of reducing Cairo's chronic road congestion — with Line Three (green) from Imbaba to al-Hazar, and eventually to Cairo International Airport at Heliopolis. Line Four is expected to go from the southwest at Al Ahram to the east at Nasr City; Line Five is planned as a half-circular line connecting all the other lines, from Nasr City to Port Said Street and Shubra El Kheima; and Line 6 is to be a north-south line from Shubra to Maadi.

North America

Subway of Atlanta

MARTA is the common name for Atlanta's rapid transit system, consisting of a network of bus routes linked to an urban heavy rail metro system. It is operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.

The system was established in 1971 with a signed agreement between DeKalb and Fulton counties, allowing such a system to run between the two counties. Construction on the rail lines began in 1975 and the first rail service began on June 30, 1979 between the Georgia State and Avondale stations on the East Line.

Shoppers in Fulton and DeKalb counties pay a 1% sales tax to support MARTA. More than 40% of this tax is exported (paid by persons who are not residents of Fulton and DeKalb counties). According to MARTA, more than 85% of its riders are residents of Fulton and DeKalb counties. Metro Atlanta's inner suburban counties, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton initially agreed to join MARTA but refused membership when voters in their respective counties voted against paying to help fund the system. Since some MARTA service travels within Gwinnett and Clayton counties, those counties have one representative each on the MARTA board of directors. However, only Fulton and DeKalb counties give financial support to MARTA. The inner suburban counties have instead created their own independent bus systems; Cobb Community Transit in 1989 (July 10), Gwinnett County Transit in 2001 (Nov. 5), and C-TRAN in 2001 (Oct. 1) respectively. Eleven counties, including Fulton and DeKalb, and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority also are working together to provide a regional commuter coach service, Xpress [http:www.xpressga.com], which began service on June 6, 2004. The system receives limited financial support for capital projects from the state of Georgia, and U.S. federal transit subsidies and grants for capital development and maintenance. By law, half of all MARTA revenues (sales tax plus fare box) must be spent on operations, half on capital expenditures like expanding the system. This law was amended in 2004 to allow a 45% capital/55% operations split for a fixed period.

Rail
Two main lines cross the city, meeting at the Five Points station downtown. The south line goes to Hartsfield International Airport, the north line to North Springs and to Chamblee and Doraville on the northeast line. The west line goes to Hamilton E. Holmes station, and the east to Indian Creek station. There is also a short stub line, the Proctor Creek branch, with one station (Bankhead), extending from the west main line after Ashby station.

The most likely expansion of the rail system at present will be an extension of the west line from Hamilton E. Holmes to Fulton Industrial Boulevard. The north line may eventually be extended to Windward Parkway in Alpharetta with three stations. Extension of the Northeast and South lines is blocked by nonparticipating counties, though the south line may be extended another station with the planned construction of an additional terminal at the Airport.

MARTA is currently undergoing a massive capital project to overhaul all 238 rail cars in the system. A contractor in New York is providing the overhaul service at a cost of $1.5 million per car. The overhauled cars feature new AC power systems, new air conditioning systems, non-carpeted floors, redesigned operator cabs, and better seating and storage. The new cars will also have a top speed of 120mph, which will shorten the travel time between distant stations (such as Buckhead and Medical Center).


North Avenue (N3) Station

Montreal Metro


Place-Saint-Henri station

The Montreal Metro is the main form of public transportation within the city of Montreal and was the second metro system to be built in Canada, opening 12 years after the Toronto subway.

The Metro, operated by Société de transport de Montréal, was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure of Mayor Jean Drapeau. Originally consisting of 26 stations on three separate lines, the Metro now incorporates 65 stations on four lines, serving the centre, east, and west of Montreal Island with a connection to Longueuil via the Yellow Line and, soon, Laval, originally to be completed in 2006, but now scheduled to be inaugurated in 2007.

I) History
The Montreal metro system was first built to service the 1967 World's Fair, Expo '67, held in the summer of 1967. Construction began in May, 1962, and the main lines (Green (Line 1), Atwater to Frontenac; and Orange (Line 2), Bonaventure to Henri-Bourassa) were opened in October, 1966, with line Yellow (Line 4) (Berri-de-Montigny) to Longueuil, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River) not opened until April, 1967. (Line 3, originally intended to be a surface train running in part through the existing railway tracks running under Mount Royal to Cartierville, was never built. It was considered more important to build Line 4 because of Expo '67. Line 3 now exists as a commuter train line.)

With the awarding of the 1976 Summer Olympics to Montreal, construction began in October 1971 for the extension of Line 1 from Frontenac to Honoré-Beaugrand to service the main Olympic site; the new stations were opened in June 1976.

Later, Line 1 was extended from Atwater to Angrignon (September 1978), while Line 2 was extended from Bonaventure to Place-Saint-Henri (April 1980), Snowdon (September 1981), Côte-Sainte-Catherine and Plamondon (January and June 1982), and Du Collège (January 1984).

Two years later, a new line (Blue (Line 5)) was built from De Castelnau to Saint-Michel (June 1986), with transfers to Line 2 at Jean-Talon, and Line 2 was extended further to Côte-Vertu (November 1986). Line 5 was then extended to Parc (June 1987), Acadie (March 1988), and the existing Snowdon station on line 2 (January 1988).

While a number of proposals for further expansion had been studied, the Quebec provincial government placed a moratorium on further metro construction. Only recently has construction begun on an extension of Line 2 from Henri-Bourassa under the Rivière des Prairies to Montmorency on the island of Laval (northwest of the island of Montreal); completion is expected in early 2007.

Other expansion proposals currently being considered involve Line 4 being extended a short distance beyond Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke and Line 5 being extended farther northeast beyond Saint-Michel; the plan to extend Line 5 from Snowdon into the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce area of Montreal has apparently been discarded. Expansion plans may also be affected by the aging of the existing metro cars, which may need to be replaced sometime in the future.

II) Trains
The Montreal Metro was the first metro in the world to run entirely on rubber tires. This is not the reason, however, why it entirely runs underground, as it is so often erroneously stated (the real reason is because the cars are not designed to run above ground; neither the ventilation nor the electrical systems are watertight). Rubber tires make the Metro exceptionally quiet, and also helps metro cars go uphill more easily and with less energy consumption than metal-wheeled metros. The slopes required to allow the Yellow Line to pass underneath the Saint Lawrence River are too steep for steel-wheeled trains.

All lines but the Yellow Line are equipped with automatic train controls. Signalling is effected though electrical pulses sent through the rails, and picked up by antennas mounted on the cars. The information sent conveys speed information, and it is up to the train automatic control to conform to the imposed speed. In case of manual control, signal indication is displayed by a second needle within the speedometer indicating the maximum permissible speed. The only wayside signals are point (switch/turnout) position indicators.

Trains are stopped at station stops with a precise odometer (accurate to plus or minus 5 centimetres) that is recalibrated at every station stop by the use of a beacon that is positioned before the station at the precise length of the platform, thus allowing the train control system to calculate exactly how many wheel turns to go before stopping after passing a second beacon positioned at the station entrance.

Two models of train are used:

Canadian Vickers MR-63 (delivered for the metro's opening in 1966)
Bombardier MR-73 (delivered in the 1970s)
MR-63 is used on the Green line and the MR-73 is used on the other three lines. Montreal's rolling stock is among the oldest still in use on any metro system in the world, and the STM is pressing the provincial government hard for the large investment necessary to replace the trains.

The MR-73 model produces the system's signature three-note sound when the train pulls out of a station. The three-note sound is produced by a piece of equipment called a peak chopper, which is used to power up the motors on the train in stages, to prevent a power surge. The notes are the same as the first three notes as Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", one of the musical themes for Expo '67, though this is apparently just a coincidence.


III) Design
The design of the Metro was heavily influenced by Montreal's winter conditions. Unlike other cities' metros, nearly all station entrances in Montreal are completely enclosed: usually in small, separate buildings with swiveling doors meant to mitigate the wind caused by train movements that can make doors difficult to open.

All separate entrances are set back from the sidewalk; as well several stations in downtown Montreal are directly connected to buildings, and thus have several entrances inside pre-existing buildings as well as street-level entrances, making the Metro an integral part of Montreal's famous underground city. Several metro entrances are also located within building façades. Only three stations have open entrances such as are prevalent in other cities.

Montreal's metro is renowned for its architecture and public art. Under the direction of Mayor Drapeau, a competition among Canadian architects was held to decide the design of each station, ensuring that every station was built in a different style by a different architect. Several stations, such as Berri-UQAM are important examples of modernist architecture, and various system-wide design choices were informed by the International Style.

Along with the Stockholm Metro, Montreal pioneered the installation of public art in the metro among capitalist countries, a practice that before hand was mostly found in Socialist and Communist nations. More than fifty stations are decorated with over one hundred works of public art, such as sculpture, stained glass, and murals by noted Québécois artists, including members of the famous art movement, the Automatistes.

Some of the most important works in the Metro include the stained-glass window at Champ-de-Mars station, the masterpiece of major Quebec artist Marcelle Ferron; and the Guimard entrance at Square Victoria station, like the famous metro entrances designed for the Paris Metro, donated by the RATP to commemorate its cooperation in constructing the metro. This is the only authentic Guimard entrance in use outside Paris.

IV) Operation


Metro service starts at 05:30 and stops at 01:00 on weekdays and Sunday, and 01:30 on Saturday in order to accommodate people coming home later. However, the Blue Line stops service earlier, at 00:15 due to low traffic volume. During rush hour, there are three to five minutes between trains on the Orange and Green Lines.

The Metro is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) which also operates the bus services in Montreal, thus there is free transfer possible between bus and Metro. Fare payment is via a barrier system, including magnetic tickets and passes, punched-card bus transfers, and non-magnetized reduced fare tickets.

Fares are partially integrated with the Agence métropolitaine de transport's commuter rail system, which links the Metro to the outer suburbs via four interchange stations.

V) Metro Lines


The four current Montreal Metro lines are identified by colour, by number, or by terminus station. The terminus station in the direction of travel is used to differentiate between directions of travel. The longest and busiest line is the Green Line, while the least busy is the Blue Line. The Yellow Line is the shortest line, with just three stations, and was built for the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. For now, it is the only Metro line that leaves the Island of Montreal, however that will change when the Orange Line is extended to Laval, a city to the north of Montreal, in 2007. Line 3 was intended to be an above-ground train that would use the CN Rail tracks running under Mount Royal, however this plan was cancelled and the Line 3 tracks are now used for the Montréal/Deux-Montagnes commuter rail line. The Montreal Metro nonetheless continues to be numbered as if Line 3 had been constructed as a part of the Metro.

San Francisco Subway

BART (in full, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District) is a rapid transit electric train service that serves parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, including the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, and Walnut Creek. It also serves San Francisco International Airport directly via a station in the new International Terminal (Garage G/BART) and Oakland International Airport with connecting AirBART bus service. In 2004 BART was named the #1 Transit System in America by the American Public Transportation Association. It beat out such systems as New York City's MTA, the 2001 winner, and Denver's Regional Transportation District, the 2003 winner. The BART acronym is pronounced as a single word, not as individual letters.



I) History of BART
The BART system was first proposed in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration and congestion in the region. An Army-Navy task force concluded that another trans-bay crossing would soon be needed to relieve congestion on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The idea of an underwater electric rail tube was deemed the best solution in conjunction with a multiple-county rapid transit rail system. Much of BART's current territory was earlier covered by the Key Rail System, an electrified streetcar (light rail) network that had its origins in the 1900s and ran across the lower deck of the Bay Bridge when it first opened; however, this system was removed in the 1950s due to the combined pressure of declining ridership and the automotive industry and highway planners.

After years of review and planning, BART construction officially began on June 19, 1964. President Lyndon Johnson presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies at a 4.4 mile (7.1 km) test track between Concord and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County.

Enormous construction tasks were at hand, including underground rail sections below downtown Oakland and Market Street in San Francisco, a 3.5 mile (5.6 km) tunnel through the Berkeley Hills, and the 3.6 mile (5.8 km) Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco, which was lowered to the bottom of the San Francisco Bay by a small armada of construction vessels. The tube, constructed in 57 sections, was completed in August 1969 at a cost of $180 million.

BART began regular passenger service on September 11, 1972. President Richard Nixon rode the system on September 27, 1972. The Transbay Tube opened nearly two years later on September 16, 1974.

In January 1979, an electrical fire broke out on a train traveling in the Transbay Tube, killing one firefighter. Service was halted for over two months. The trains were more flammable than permitted by current code. Since then, BART holds regular fire drills and has used fire-resistant seating in its trains.

BART has a highly unionized work force that went on strike for six days in 1997, causing great inconvenience to the public. In its 2001 negotiations, BART unions won 24 percent wage increases over four years, and continuing generous benefits for employees and retirees. Another threatened strike on July 6, 2005 was averted by a last-minute agreement between management and the unions.

II) BART system details
As of the June 22, 2003, opening date of the extension to San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae, the BART system comprises 104 miles (167 km) of track and 43 stations. BART uses a non-standard 5 feet, 6 inch (1.676 m) rail gauge (broad gauge). This unusual gauge was selected to provide greater stability and a smoother ride for its relatively lightweight aluminum and fiberglass cars, as well as for political and economic reasons. Trains achieve a maximum speed of 80 mph (129 km/h ), and provide an average of 33 mph (53 km/h ) between stations with 20-second station dwell times. Trains operate at a minimum length of three cars (per California Public Utility Commission guidelines) to a maximum length of 10 cars, spanning the entire 700-foot length of a platform. Trains in the BART system are also referred to as "consists". The term is interchangible with "train".

The BART system operates five lines, but most of the network consists of interlining (running more than one line on the same track). Trains typically run every 15 minutes on weekdays and 20 minutes during the evenings, weekends and holidays.



III) Automation and ghost trains
BART was the first US system of any size to operate substantially under automation. The trains are computer-controlled via BART's Operations Control Center (OCC) at the Lake Merritt station and headquarters, and generally arrive with regular punctuality. Train operators are present to make announcements, close doors, and operate the train in case of unforeseen difficulties.

A fairly common problem with the automation is the appearance of "ghost trains," trains that show on the computer system as being in a specific place, but don't physically exist. Under such circumstances, trains must be operated manually and are restricted to a speed of 25 mph (~40 km/h). Such system artifacts are usually cleared quickly enough to avoid significant delay, but occassionally some can cause an extended backup of manually operated trains in the system.[1]

As a first generation system, BART's automation was plagued with numerous operational problems during its first years of service. Shortly before revenue service began an on-board electronics failure caused one empty 2-car test train, dubbed the “Fremont Flyer” to run off the end of the platform at its namesake station into a parking lot (there were no injuries). When revenue service began, “ghost trains” were common and real trains could, at times, disappear from the system. During this shakedown period there were several embarrassing episodes where trains had to be manually run and signaled via station agents communicating by phone. This caused a great outcry in the press and led to a flurry of litigation among some of the original controls contractors, but in time these problems were resolved and BART became a reliable service.

IV) BART compared with other rail transit systems
Like many late 20th century transit systems, BART's primary goal was to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by paralleling established commute routes on the region's freeway system. It was not intended to provide a dense level of service such as the New York City Subway or the London Underground.

In San Francisco, local service is provided by Muni's underground and streetcar service. However, this service is still relatively sparse compared to other urban areas. In addition, Muni trains are not coordinated with BART schedules, and require a separate ticket for the majority of passengers. There is fare coordination between Muni and BART in that Muni monthly pass holders are permitted to use BART for free within San Francisco city limits and BART passengers can purchase an add on pass for a half month that allows unlimited rides on Muni.


Train interiorSuburban stations are mostly "park and rides" spaced at distances of typically at least 2 miles (3 km) apart with 15 to 20 minute service intervals in the peak and off-peak hours, respectively. Urban stations are roughly one-half mile (800 m) apart and have 2.5 – 5 minute service intervals at peak times. As such, some sources consider BART to be more of a regional commuter service. However, BART does possess all of the features of a true metro system (eg. electrified third rail propulsion with exclusive (grade-separated) right-of-way, frequent headway service and pre-paid fare card access). Thus many consider it more of a hybrid metro-commuter system, functioning more as a metro in the central business districts of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, and as commuter rail in outlying areas.



V) Current and future extension of the BART system
A $1.5 billion extension of BART southward beyond Colma was completed in June 2003. Ground was broken in November 1997, and the extension added four new stations in South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae (with a cross-platform connection to Caltrain, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River), and San Francisco International Airport. The project encompasses 8.7 miles (14 km) of new rail track, of which 6.1 miles (9.8 km) is subway, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) is aerial, and 1.4 miles (2.2 km) is at-grade. [2] [3]

An extension of BART southward past Fremont to the Warm Springs District in southern Fremont is in the planning and engineering stage by BART planning staff. A further extension towards San Jose is also proposed by the transit district south of BART, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, but preliminary engineering remains to be completed and funding to be acquired. [4]

SFBARTD is a special governmental district created by the State of California consisting of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and San Francisco County. It is governed by an elected Board of Directors, and each of the nine directors represents a specific geographic district with the BART district. BART has its own police force. The original district included Marin County and San Mateo County but they opted out of the District before construction began.

In total, the SFBARTD encompasses the incorporated and unincorporated cities of Alameda, Alamo, Albany, Antioch, Bay Point, Bethel Island, Berkeley, Brentwood, Byron, Castro Valley, Clayton, Clyde, Concord, Crockett, Danville, Discovery Bay, Dublin, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Kensington, Knightsen, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Newark, Oakland, Oakley, Orinda, Pacheco, Piedmont, Pleasanton, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Port Costa, Rodeo, Richmond, San Francisco, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Pablo, San Ramon, Sunol, Union City and Walnut Creek. While the district includes all of these cities in its jurisdiction, the BART system only has stations in a few of these cities.



South America

Buenos Aires Metro

The Buenos Aires Metro (locally known as el subte, from "subterráneo") is a mass-transit network that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. With its first station inaugurated in 1913, this is the oldest metro system in Latin America, the Southern Hemisphere, and the entire Spanish-speaking world. It grew rapidly in the early years of the century, but work on extending the network did, however, stagnate in the years following World War II.


Entrance to Pellegrini Station on Line B
Vintage subway entrance on original Line A on Avenida de MayoThe current network comprises five underground lines (labelled "A" to "E", and further identified by different colours), covering a total track length of 42.7 km. There is also one surface light rail line (the premetro).



Línea A Opened to the public on 14 December 1913, 7.13 km, 14 stations.
Línea B Opened on 17 October 1930, 8.94 km, 15 stations.
Línea C Opened on 9 November 1934, 4.4 km, 9 stations.
Línea D Opened on 3 June 1937, 10.41 km. 16 stations.
Línea E Opened on 20 June 1944, 9.2 km, 15 stations.
Línea F (planned)
Línea G (planned)
Línea H (under construction) Will be opened by the end of 2006, 4.4km, 10 stations.
Línea I (planned)
Línea K (planned)
Premetro Opened on 27 August 1987, 7.4 km.



Asia

Subway of Hong Kong

MTR or Mass Transit Railway is the main rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Since the MTR service first opened in 1979, the network has expanded to encompass seven lines and 53 stations. Running by MTR Corporation Limited, the MTR system is a very popular mode of public transport in Hong Kong, with an average of 2.45 million journeys recorded each day.

Much of this popularity is due to the efficiency and affordability of the MTR. For example, a taxi ride from Tsing Yi in the New Territories to Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island costs around HK$200, while the same trip on the MTR costs HK$11.8, and HK$5.7 on concessionary fare. The integration of the Octopus contactless smart card system into the MTR system in September 1997 has particularly enhanced the ease of use of the MTR.



I) History of the MTR

Overview
Construction of the MTR was prompted by a government-commissioned study released in 1967. The government of Hong Kong commissioned the study in the 1960s to find solutions to the growing traffic problem caused by expansion of the colony's economy. Construction started soon after release of the study, and the first line was opened in 1979. The MTR was immediately popular with the residents of Hong Kong, and as a result subsequent lines have been built to cover more territory. There are continuing debates as to how and where to expand the MTR network. Several proposals have been put forward, but none have been agreed upon. The two most viable projects, the West Island Line and South Island Line, are still many years from completion.

In 2000, the government-owned MTR Corporation was partially privatised and renamed the MTR Corporation Limited. MTR Corporation has always been reliant on developing properties next to railway stations for its profits (although the rail lines are profitable themselves); many recently built stations are incorporated into large housing estates or shopping complexes. Examples of this type of construction can be seen at Tsing Yi station, which is built next to the Maritime Square shopping centre, and directly underneath the Tierra Verde housing estate.

Initial proposal
During the 1960s, the government of Hong Kong saw a need to accommodate increasing road traffic predicted for the future as Hong Kong's economy continued to grow strongly. British transport consultants Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates were appointed to study the transport system of Hong Kong. The consultants released the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study in September 1967, which proposed the construction of a mass transport underground railway system in Hong Kong.

In 1970, an underground network with four lines was laid out and planned as part of the British consultants' new report, Hong Kong Mass Transit: Further Studies. The four lines were to be the Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Island Line, and East Kowloon Line. However, the lines that were eventually constructed were somewhat different compared with the lines that were originally proposed by the "Hong Kong Mass Transport Study" (a map showing the original lines to be constructed can be found here).

In 1972, the Hong Kong government authorised construction of the Initial System, a 20-kilometre system that roughly translates to the Kwun Tong Line today (except the line now extends to Tiu Keng Leng). Negotiations with four major construction consortia started in 1973. The government's intention was to tender the entire project, based on the British design, as a single tender at a fixed price. A consortium from Japan signed an agreement to construct the system in early 1974, but in December of the same year it pulled out from the agreement.

Modified Initial System
Several weeks later, in early 1975, a government agency known as the Mass Transport Provisional Authority was established to take charge of the project. It announced that the Initial System would be slightly reduced to 15.6 kilometres, and renamed it the Modified Initial System. Plans for a single contract were also abandoned in favour of 25 engineering contracts and 10 electrical and mechanical contracts.

In addition, the government-owned Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) was established to replace the Mass Transport Provisional Authority. (This was the company succeeded by the MTR Corporation Limited on 30 June 2000)

Construction of the Modified Initial System commenced in November 1975. After almost four years, the northern section was completed on 30 September 1979. On 1 October 1979, the northern section was opened, with trains running from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong. The route from Tsim Sha Tsui to Shek Kip Mei was opened in December of the same year.

In 1980, the first harbour crossing was made by an MTR train as the Kwun Tong Line was extended even further to Chater station, now known as Central station. To deal with increasing patronage, trains were also extended to six cars.

Tsuen Wan Line
The government approved construction of the Tsuen Wan Line in 1977, then known as Tsuen Wan Extension, and works commenced in November 1978. The project added a 10.5-kilometre section to the MTR system, from Prince Edward to Tsuen Wan. The line started service on 10 May 1982. Total cost of construction (not adjusted for inflation) was HK$4.1 billion.

When service of this line started, the section of the Kwun Tong Line from Chater to Argyle, present-day Mong Kok station, was transferred to the Tsuen Wan Line. Thus, Waterloo (Yau Ma Tei station) became the terminus of the Kwun Tong Line, and both Argyle and Prince Edward stations became interchange stations. This change was made because system planners expected traffic of the Tsuen Wan Line would exceed that of the Kwun Tong Line. This forecast was initially correct ; however, since the launch of the Tung Chung Line in 1998, much of the traffic northwest of Lai King towards Hong Kong Island has been diverted to the newer line.

Although land acquisitions were made for a station at Tsuen Wan West, the station was never built. The planned site is now partially occupied by the KCR West Rail, which bears a Tsuen Wan West station much closer to the coast.

Island Line
Government approvals were granted for construction of the Island Line in December, 1980. Construction commenced in October, 1981. On 31 May 1985 the Island Line was opened with service between Admiralty and Chai Wan stations. Both Admiralty and Central stations became interchange stations with the Tsuen Wan Line. Furthermore, each train was extended to eight cars.

On 23 May 1986, service reached Sheung Wan station. Construction for this station was delayed for one year as government offices which sat on top of the station had to be removed to a new location before construction could start.

Eastern Harbour Crossing extension
In 1984, the government approved the construction of the Eastern Harbour Crossing, a tunnel to be used by cars and MTR trains. The Kwun Tong Line was extended across the harbour to Quarry Bay, which became an interchange station for the Kwun Tong Line and the Island Line. The extension was launched on 5 August 1989. An intermediate station, Lam Tin, started operations on 1 October 1989.

Airport Express and Tung Chung Line
The decision was made in October 1989 to construct a new international airport at Chek Lap Kok on Lantau Island to replace the overcrowded Kai Tak International Airport. The government invited the MTR to build a train line, then known as the Lantau Airport Railway, to the airport. But construction did not begin until the Chinese and British governments settled their financial and land disagreements in November 1994.

In the end, the new line was included in the financing plans of the new Hong Kong International Airport as the airport was not considered viable without direct public transport links. Construction costs were also shared by the MTR which was granted many large-scale developments in the construction plans for the new stations.

The Lantau Airport Railway turned into two MTR lines, the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express. The Airport Express opened for service on 6 July 1998 along with the new Hong Kong International Airport. The Tung Chung Line was officially opened on 21 June 1998 by Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, and service commenced the next day.

Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works
The Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works involved extending the Hong Kong Island end of the Kwun Tong Line from Quarry Bay to North Point via a 4.2 kilometres tunnel. The project was initiated due to overcrowding at Quarry Bay and persistent passenger complaints about the 5-minute walk from the Island Line station to the Kwun Tong Line station. Construction began in September 1997 and was completed in September 2001 at a cost of HK$3.0 billion.

Tseung Kwan O Line
Construction of the Tseung Kwan O Line was approved on 18 August 1998 to serve new housing developments. Construction began on 24 April 1999 and the line officially opened in 2002. It took over the train tracks running through the Eastern Harbour Tunnel from the Kwun Tong Line, and ran from Po Lam to North Point. Subsequently, the Kwun Tong Line was diverted to Tiu Keng Leng on the new line. Cost of the new construction was partially paid for by the Government of Hong Kong, as well as private developers which linked construction of the Tseung Kwan O Line to new real estate and commercial developments, as previously under-developed areas were opened up for development with the increase in transportation options.

West Rail Interface Works
While the construction of the Tung Chung Line was still underway, the plan for building a railway corridor to serve the northwestern New Territories was conceived. Space has been reserved for the addition of an interchange station and two extra tracks (to allow non-stop service for the Airport Express) between Olympic and Lai King. Originally known as the Airport Railway Phase 2, the contracts of the West Rail Interface Works were awarded shortly after construction works of the West Rail commenced. The project comprised Mei Foo Interchange (modification of the existing Mei Foo station on the Tsuen Wan Line to provide a pedestrian link to the West Rail Mei Foo station; Nam Cheong Station (an interchange station on the Tung Chung Line, jointly operated by the MTRC and KCRC) and 4-Tracking Works (the additional two tracks, 4 km in length, allow the Tung Chung Line trains to stop at Nam Cheong without obstructing the passage of Airport Express trains).

The Works were completed in stages. The Tung Chung Line trains have been running on the new track since mid May 2003, whereas the Mei Foo station interchange subway and the Nam Cheong station were opened at the same time the West Rail opened for public use in December 2003.




II) Safety on the MTR
Information

Platform screen doors on the Kwun Tong Line at Tiu Keng Leng.Various campaigns and activities are taken to help ensure that the MTR is a safe system to travel on. Poster campaigns displaying information on topics such as escalator safety are a common sight in all MTR stations, and announcements are made regularly as safety reminders to travelling passengers.

Bylaws have been recently introduced to deter potentially dangerous actions on the MTR, such as the ban of flammable goods on the MTR and rushing into trains when the doors are closing. Penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment have been imposed for such offenses. Metal balloons are also banned due to a previous incident on KCR where a metal balloon interfered with the operation of the overhead power lines.

Tung Chung Line, the Airport Express and Tseung Kwan O Line, except Quarry Bay station, have platform screen doors (PSDs) installed upon construction. These doors prevent people from falling onto the rails; and have the additional benefit of separating the stations from the tunnels, hence allowing substantial energy savings on station air-conditioning and tunnel ventilation. Automatic platform gates have also been installed at the soon-opening Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort station. Their heights are half of those PSDs and only prevent people from falling onto the rails.

In June 2000, The MTR Corporation proceeded with its plans to retrofit 2,960 pairs of platform screen doors at 30 underground stations on the Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, and Island Line in a six year programme. The programme made MTR the world's first railway to undertake the retrofitting of PSDs on a passenger-carrying system already in operation. A prototype design was first introduced at the Choi Hung station on 3rd quarter 2001. HK$0.10 per passenger trip were levied on Octopus card users to help fund the HK$2 billion retrofit programme.

Three stations are still awaiting installation under the programme, namely Tin Hau, Shau Kei Wan and Lam Tin. The programme is scheduled to be completed by 2006. The MTR Corporation said that part of the cost has to be assumed by passengers.


Platform screen doors on the Kwun Tong Line at Tiu Keng Leng.

III) Station facilities, amenities and services
With the high level of daily passenger traffic, facilities of MTR stations are built with durability and accessibility in mind. The elevators and escalators in stations are heavy duty, installed by Otis Elevator Company/Fujitec and Constructions Industrielles de la Mediterranée/Otis Elevator Company respectively.

The MTR system in general is disabled-friendly — the trains have dedicated wheelchair space, the stations have special floor tiles to guide the blind safely on the platforms, and there are extra wide entry/exit gates for wheelchairs to pass through.

Unlike many other metro systems around the world, "main line" MTR stations do not have toilet facilities. Only stations on the Airport Express and Disneyland Resort Line have access to toilet facilities.


A young man talking on phone inside a carriage.

Telecommunications network coverage
A full GSM (GSM-900 and GSM-1800), CDMA and TDMA mobile phone network is in place through out the MTR system of stations and tunnels. Passengers can stay connected for the duration of their trips underground.

Currently, 3 Hong Kong is expanding its 3G mobile coverage to all stations and tunnels for the MTR system. Full 3G network coverage is expected to be completed by August 2005. Passengers with subscription services will be able to make video calls and access high speed video content on their mobile phones regardless whether the train is above ground or under ground.

Shops and other services
Until recently, MTR stations only had branches of the Hang Seng Bank and Maxim's Cakes stores, owned by Jardine Matheson. Since the privatisation of the MTR, however, numerous shops have been added to certain stations, turning them into miniature shopping centres. Services available at most stations include:

Hang Seng Bank branches and ATMs
Bank of China ATMs
7-Eleven or Circle K convenience stores
Apart from retailers, there are also dentists and medical clinics, drycleaners, and florists along the Tseung Kwan O Line. Standard services include payphones, vending machines (Coca-Cola only), and self-service photo-booths.

Newspapers
Main article: Metropolis Daily
As of 2005, three free newspapers are given away inside MTR stations: the Metropolis Daily, published by Metro International; the entertainment magazine Hui Kai Guide (去街 Guide); and the recruitment newspaper Jiu Jik (招職), published by South China Morning Post.

Airport Express
Main article: Airport Express
The Airport Express also offers value-added services to travellers on the line. Toilets and check-in facilities are available at every station on the line. A free Airport Express shuttle bus service transports travellers from stations to their respective hotels as well. Flight passengers would even have in-town check-in at the station, which offers a more convenient and time-saving routine.

IV) MTR rolling stock

Interior of a Tung Chung Line train, built jointly by Adtranz (now Bombardier Transportations) and CAF.

Four variations of rolling stock operate on the MTR on 1.5kV overhead electrification. All trains are electric multiple units (EMUs), equipped with ATC and ATP, operating on 1432mm rail gauge.

Except for the rolling stock of the Airport Express, all trains are designed with features to cope with high density passenger traffic on stopping services. Examples are the latitudinal seating arrangement, additional ventilation fans and 5 doors on each side per car.

The Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express use trains that are dedicated specifically to their respective lines. These two variations are built jointly by Adtranz (now Bombardier Transportations) and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.

The other lines are operated using a mixture of the other two variations, known as the "M-Train" and the "K-Stock". The "M-Stock" (or CM-Stock") of "M-Train" are the oldest trains on the MTR, built originally by Metro Cammell and refurbished by United Goninan. The "M-Train" is the only variation that uses sliding doors, as opposed to others which use plug-doors. The "K-Stock" are built jointly by Mitsubishi and ROTEM.

The Disneyland Resort Line will use "M-Trains" but with their appearance overhauled to suit the atmosphere and theme of the line. Windows on each carriage and the handrails inside will be made into the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, and there will be bronze-made Disney characters decorating the interior of the carriages.

V) Future expansion

Converted carriages in preparation for the Disneyland Resort Line. The background shows the Siu Ho Wan train depot.

Disneyland Resort Line
Main article: Disneyland Resort Line
Construction has been finished on the Disneyland Resort Line, previously known as Penny's Bay Rail Link. Hong Kong Disneyland is scheduled to open on 12 September 2005. Service to Sunny Bay station on the Tung Chung Line started on 1 June 2005. The new line and Disneyland Resort station open for service in late Summer.

This 3.5 kilometre single-track railway is an extension of the Tung Chung Line. It will run between the new Sunny Bay station to Hong Kong Disneyland, where a new station designed to have a resort ambiance will be built. According to MTR Corporation Limited, the line will initially operate four-car trains (each car accommodating up to 180 passengers) running every four to ten minutes. Provisions have been made to make future expansion to use eight-car trains possible. In addition, these carriages will be converted from the existing rolling stock to suit the recreational and adventurous nature of the 3.5 minute journey.

AsiaWorld-Expo Station
The new AsiaWorld-Expo station is an extension of the Airport Express to serve the new international exhibition centre, known as the AsiaWorld-Expo at Hong Kong International Airport. It is commissioned to be completed by December 2005 to meet the opening of the exhibition centre by the end of 2005.

West Island Line and South Island Line

Alignment of the latest scheme (February 2005) of West Island Line and South Island Line.Main Article: West Island Line and South Island Line
On 21 January 2003, the Executive Council of Hong Kong granted MTR Corporation Limited permission to proceed with further planning on two proposed lines: West Island Line and South Island Line. These new lines are suggested in the Second Railway Development Study (RDS-2) to provide direct linkage between the populated areas of Wah Fu and Ap Lei Chau in Southern District, and the CBD of Hong Kong.

Three proposals have been submitted in the past to address the drawbacks of subsequent plans. In this planning stage feasibility study was conducted to optimize the new lines in terms of cost-effectiveness, external benefits and the effect on other modes of transport. The plan was eventually turned down by the government to favour the construction of highways in late March 2004.

MTR gave a fourth try in February 2005. It consists of West Island Line, an extension of Island Line to Kennedy Town, and the two sections of South Island Line. The legislative counsellors support an earlier completion of West Island Line.

Outsourcing
The MTR Corporation is planning to outsource its services centres of 14 stations on the Island Line. Around 100 employees will be arranged to work at the Disneyland Resort Line and the AsiaWorld-Expo station. Services centres on the new stations of Tseung Kwan O Line are already outsourced when it started its service.

Shanghai Metro

The Shanghai Metro is a metro system that serves the city of Shanghai. It currently has 4 lines:

Line 1, 21.4 km long, runs from Xin Zhuang to Shanghai Railway Station, and extends from Railway Station to Gongfu New Estate.
Line 2, 19.2 km long, runs from Zhong Shan Park to Zhangjiang Hi-tech Industry Zone.
Line 3, 25 km long, runs from Jiang Wan Town to Shanghai South Railway Station.
Line 5, 17.2 km long, runs from Xinzhuang to Minhang Development Zone.
In addition, the following lines are under construction or planning:

Line 4, 22 km long, will be a circular line sharing part of its track with Line 3.
Line 6, 28.8 km long, will run in Pudong from Waihuanlu to Gongchenglu.
Line 7
Line 8, 22.6 km long.
Line 9, 35 km long, will run from Dongan Rd. to Song Jiang New City.

I) Fare system
Like many metro systems in the world, the fares on the Shanghai Subway (line 5 excepted) are distance based. fares range from 2 Yuan (approx US. $.25) for just three or four station stops to 6 Yuan from a terminus to another terminus. At the moment, only lines one and two are outfitted such that free transfer is possible. Line five uses a separate, fixed fare system, and line three is elevated, rather than underground as lines one and two are.

II) Stations of note
The most important station of the Shanghai metro system at the moment is undoubtedly People's Square station (Line 1,2). It is the transfer station for the north-south line one and the east-west line two. During peak hours, it is extremely crowded. During these times, people do not walk so much as they are just pushed along in a mass of travelers. It remains busy during the rest of the day, as it is located near major shopping and tourist destinations ( East Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, The Shanghai Museum, People's Park, The Shanghai Oprea House and Yan'an Greens)

Xujiahui station (Line 1) is located at the major Xujiahui commercial center of Shanghai. Six large shopping malls and eight large office towers are each within no more than a three minute walk of one of the stations fourteen exits (The largest number of any Shanghai Subway station). During peak hours, it, too, is crowded beyond belief.

Lujiazui station (Line 2) is the major stop in Pudong area. It is directly in the heart of Lujiazui financial district, the developing financial center of Shanghai. The city's new symbol, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is within walking distance of the station. So is the famous Jin Mao Tower, the second-tallest building in China, after the Taipei 101. By comparison to Xujiahui and People's Square, however, Lujiazui is not particularly busy during off-hours and weekends, as it is primarily used by those who commute to the district for work.

Shanghai Railway Station (Line 1,3) is a major transportation hub in Shanghai. It is not simply home to two subway lines. The railway station, of course, is there too, along with dozens of city bus lines and scores of interprovincial buses. These bus lines will soon be housed in a brand new bus station now under construction behind the train station.

III) Retail
Nearly every Shanghai subway station houses retailing of some kind. Usually this manifests itself in small stands selling phone cards or mobile phone number chips. However, there are also many newsstands, some stations having as many as three competing newsstands. Snack stations have become popular, too, along with some bookstores. The Xujiahui station is overflowing with commerce, housing three restaurants, a kai-ten sushi establishment, a salon, a shoe store, a bookstore, a teahouse, an art dealer, more than twenty trinket shops no larger than 20 square feet (2 m²) each and a 500 meter long underground shopping arcade with dozens of stores, mostly selling women's and girls' clothing and shoes.

IV) Passenger behavior
It is very unhelpful to conjure up images of the Japanese metro system when thinking of Shanghai. While the Japanese are exceedingly polite and deferential to each other when detraining and boarding, this is not true in Shanghai. The Chinese are deliberate and forceful, and pushing others out of your way is not considered rude. As soon as the doors to an arriving train open, all those inside and out push against each other in a vain attempt to be the first either on or off the train. It is a remarkably ineffective way to board and detrain. The metro authority is trying to discourage this practice with constant reminders to let passengers off the train before boarding ("First off, then on."), though they have had limited success.

Europe

London Underground


The London Underground is an electric railway public transport network (a metro or subway system) that runs both above and below ground throughout the Greater London area. It is the oldest such transit system in the world. Operations began on 10 January 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway — the initial route is now served by the Circle Line and the Hammersmith & City Line.

The London Underground is usually referred to as either simply "the Underground" by Londoners, or (more familiarly) as "the Tube", due to the shape of its deep-bore tunnels.

There are currently 274 stations open and over 253 miles (408 km) of active lines, as well as a number of stations and tunnels now closed. In 2004-05 total passenger journeys reached a record level of 976 million, or 2.67 million per day.

Since 2003, the Tube has been part of Transport for London (TfL), which also schedules and lets contracts for London's buses, including the famous red double-decker buses. Previously London Regional Transport was the holding company for London Underground.

I) History
The first section of the London Underground (the "Metropolitan Railway", running between Paddington and Farringdon) was the world's first urban underground passenger-carrying railway. After delays for financial and other reasons following the scheme's adoption in 1854, public traffic eventually began on 10 January 1863. 40,000 passengers were carried over the line that day, with trains running every 10 minutes; by 1880 the expanded 'Met' was carrying 40 million passengers a year. Other lines swiftly followed, and by 1884 the Circle Line ("Inner Circle") was completed. Advances in deep-level tunnel design (including tunnelling shields) later allowed tunnels to be placed deeper underground than the original cut-and-cover method. The first "deep-level" line, the City & South London Railway, now part of the Northern Line, opened in 1890.

In the early 20th century the presence of six independent operators running different Tube lines caused passengers substantial inconvenience; in many places passengers had to walk some distance above ground to change between lines. The costs associated with running such a system were also heavy, and as a result many companies looked to financiers who could give them the money they needed to expand into the lucrative suburbs. The most prominent of these was Charles Yerkes, an American tycoon who in 1900–1902 acquired the Metropolitan District Railway and the as yet unbuilt Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (to become part of the Northern Line), Great Northern & Strand Railway, Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway (jointly to become the core of the Piccadilly Line) and Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (to become the Bakerloo Line), creating the Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd (Underground) on 9 April 1902. That company also owned many tram lines and proceeded to buy the London General Omnibus Company, creating an organisation colloquially known as the Combine.

In 1933, a public corporation called the London Passenger Transport Board was created. The Underground Group, the Metropolitan Railway and all the independent bus and tram lines were placed under the Board, an organisation which approximated in scope the current Transport for London. The outbreak of World War II, and especially The Blitz, led to the use of many Tube stations as air-raid shelters. Following the war, travel congestion continued to rise. The construction of the carefully planned Victoria Line on a diagonal northeast-southwest alignment beneath central London attracted much of the extra traffic caused by expansion after the war.

In 1977, the Piccadilly Line was extended to Heathrow Airport, and in 1979 the Jubilee Line was opened.

Wikinews has news related to this article:
Coordinated terrorist attack in LondonOn July 7, 2005, a series of explosions occurred in various locations in the Underground system. It has been speculated that this was a series of deliberate attacks by a group allied to Al-Qaeda, timed to coincide with the opening of the 31st G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

II) Public-Private Partnership

Since January 2003 the London Underground has been operated as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), where all the infrastructure is maintained by private companies but the Underground is still owned and operated by Transport for London (TfL). The network was split into three parts — JNP (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines), BCV (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines) and SSR (the sub-surface lines — District, Metropolitan, East London, Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines). The BCV and SSR contracts were won by Metronet, while JNP was won by Tube Lines. These companies are known as Infracos — Infrastructure Companies — and are made up of consortia of different companies: Metronet, for example, is a consortium of Balfour Beatty, WS Atkins, Bombardier, EDF Energy and RWE Thames Water.

Creation
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was sceptical about the practicality of the PPP plan, and brought in the American Bob Kiley to repeat his success with the New York subway using public bond finance. Taking office in 2000 as London's first directly elected Mayor, it was difficult for Livingstone to block the PPP process, which was entirely in the national Government's hands as it still owned London Transport. Livingstone mounted a legal challenge, but eventually dropped it as it was unlikely to succeed, and Metronet and Tube Lines began operations in January 2003. It was later revealed that the legal challenge had cost £4.2m directly, as well as £36m reimbursed to the bidders for costs incurred because of the six-month delay.

In March 2005 the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, charged with ensuring value for money in public spending, published a report concluding that this remained to be demonstrated, primarily because of the untested structure of the 30-year contracts. These are to be revised every 7.5 years, meaning that the ultimate price for the promised £15.7bn of investment is still unknown. It notes that using public bond finance would have saved £90m a year in financing costs, even though the Government guaranteed repayment of 95% of costs in the event of premature termination, and the contracts place limits and exemptions on financial risk transferred to the infrastructure companies. The system still receives an annual public subsidy of £1bn, but its spending is now determined entirely by the infracos' interpretation of their 2000-page PPP contracts. And although the private operators are expected to receive 18–20% returns on capital, for the type of risk associated with major upgrades, most of the work is low-risk maintenance and replacement. The public sector procurement option (using private companies for specific major projects) would also have saved the £455m cost of concluding the PPP contracts, not to mention the five years' delay the contract negotiations caused.

Planned investment
The UK government has promised £16 billion of funding over the years until 2030, with early priorities to cut delays and improve reliability including refurbishments of lifts and elevators, more thorough cleaning and a new station serving the new Wembley Stadium. The Victoria Line will receive new signalling systems and seven new trains, along with renewal of track and equipment on many other lines. The Jubilee Line will receive £160 million for new signalling equipment and new trains, bringing the total to 63 seven-car sets built by Alstom, although they will not be built in the UK. The Victoria and sub-surface lines will receive 1,738 new cars between 2008 and 2015, to be built in Derby. The Bakerloo Line will not receive new trains until 2019. The Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines will receive 190 new trains, built by Bombardier, meaning all sub-surface trains will be of the same design giving easier maintenance. The trains will feature inter-car gangways enhancing passenger safety, and improved acceleration and braking allowing an increase in train frequency, in the case of the Victoria Line from 28 trains per hour to 33. The last trains to be replaced, 75 District Line trains, will get interim refurbishments.

Westinghouse will continue to supply signalling equipment; already 75% of installed control equipment has been supplied by Westinghouse.


Performance
In April 2005 Bob Kiley pressed for an urgent review of the PPP, describing its performance as "bordering on disaster". A week later the chief executive of Metronet was sacked, after complaints that it had made £50m profit despite being behind on all its major works. By April 2005 it had started work on only 13 station refurbishments (instead of 32 as scheduled), and was more than a year behind on the refurbishment of 78 District Line trains. It was also behind on its track replacement programme, having completed 28 km instead of the anticipated 48 km. TfL commented in April 2005 that new equipment promised by Metronet had failed to materialise — "We were supposed to be getting private sector expertise and technology with the PPP (Public Private Partnership) but instead they are just using the same old kit." A TfL spokesman said that Tube Lines was performing much better than Metronet because it had competitively tendered contracts for its capital programme. Metronet, by contrast, had handed the work to its shareholders.

In March 2005 the House of Commons Transport Select Committee noted that "Availability is the most important factor for Tube travellers. All the infracos needed to do to meet their availability benchmarks was to perform only a little worse than in the past. On most lines, they did not even manage that."

Metronet was also declared at fault by an accident investigators' report into a May 2004 derailment at White City, for failing to implement sufficient safety checks despite being ordered to do so by TfL.

III) Practical


Tickets

London Underground Daily TravelcardLondon Underground uses Transport for London's Travelcard zones for all fares, including Underground-only fares. Travelcard Zone 1 is the most central, with a boundary just outside the Circle Line. Most of inner London is within Travelcard Zone 2 though some is in Travelcard Zone 3. Zones 1 to 6 cover all of Greater London and a few extra stations; the remaining zones are named A, B, C and D, of which zone D is the most remote and consists of Amersham and Chesham out in the Chiltern Hills on the Metropolitan Line. These lettered zones cater for the rural extremities of the tube and do not encircle the capital.

In general, the more zones travelled through, the higher the fare. Journeys through zone 1 are more expensive than those involving only outer zones. The zone system works well because most of the stations where lines cross are in zone 1, meaning that most journeys over similar distances will cost the same.

There are assistance booths open for limited periods and ticket machines usable at any time. The machines will accept coins and English paper money — though not Northern Irish or Scottish notes — in good condition, and usually give change. Most machines accept major credit and debit cards.

In 2003 London Underground launched the Oyster card, a proximity card that a traveller swipes over a reader on the automatic gates rather than feeding it through a card ticket reader. Unlike card tickets, the Oyster Card is not disposable, and value can be added to it at computerised ticket machines and at ticket offices.

Transport for London also sell daily, 3-day, 7-day, monthly and annual Travelcards, allowing unlimited rides in one or more zones on the London Underground; these are a good deal for commuters or anyone else who rides the tube daily. Travelcards also permit travel on National Rail within the zones they cover and bus travel for the whole of Greater London. "Off-Peak" Travelcards, also known as "One-Day Travelcards", are sold from machines only after 0930, and a "Peak" Travelcard is available at a higher price. Many shops, usually newsagents, sell bus passes and Travelcards; these are identified by a "Ticket Stop" sign, usually in a door panel or front window. A day pass is valid until 0430 the next morning. Passes can be bought from these agents during a day prior to travel.

Station access


Not all Underground stations are accessible by people with mobility problems. Many have some of the 410 escalators (each going at a speed of 145 ft per minute) and 112 lifts, but not all of them. New stations are designed for accessibility, but retrofitting accessibility features to old stations is considered prohibitively expensive.

The escalators in London Underground stations are both an asset and a liability. They are among the longest escalators in Europe and all are custom-built for each station. They must run 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and cope with 13,000 people per hour, with 95% of them operational at any one time. Etiquette dictates that people using escalators on the tube stand on the right-hand side or walk on the left.

London Transport now produces a map specifically indicating which stations are accessible and more recent line maps are noting which stations provide step-free access to street level. However, step height from platform to train is often as high as 200 mm on older lines, and there can be a large gap between the train and some curving platforms. Only the Jubilee Line Extension is completely usable by the unassisted wheelchair-using traveller.

Safety, reliability and cost

'Way Out' sign indicates the exit
Westminster tube station - extensive structures are required because Portcullis House is above.The London Underground has an excellent passenger safety record. Suicides are nonetheless common, at roughly one successful attempt per week across the network, though it is estimated that there are three attempts for each fatality. To help prevent death, most deep tube stations have pits between the tracks at platforms; known as a 'suicide pit', their purpose is to let a body fall safely under the tracks and away from the path of an oncoming train. Delays resulting from a person jumping in front of the train as it pulls into a station are announced as "passenger action" or "a person under a train", but are referred to by staff as a "one under".

Surprisingly few accidents are caused by overcrowding on the platforms; one explanation suggested for this — presumably by people who have never visited London or the Tube — is that Londoners are too polite to push. More prosaically, Underground staff monitor platforms by CCTV and prevent people entering the system if they become overcrowded. Camden Town tube station is exit-only on Sunday afternoons (1300–1730) for the same reason.

However, the employee safety regimen has drawn criticism. In January 2002 London Underground was fined £225,000 for breaching safety standards for workers. In court the judge said the company was "sacrificing safety" to keep the trains running "at all costs." He continued that the company, "despite the lip service they paid to health and safety issues, fell lamentably short of the proper safety standards and, objectively, simply ignored their obligations in this respect." Workers had been ordered to work in the rain, in the dark, while the track current was still switched on. [8]

Smoking was banned on the trains in July 1984. The ban was extended to all sub-surface stations in February 1985 after the Oxford Circus fire.

The worst recent incident was a fire at King's Cross station on 18 November 1987, caused by a burning match falling onto a wooden-tread escalator panel. Thirty-one people died in the fire, which prompted the phasing out of wooden escalators and improved safety training for staff.

On 7 July 2005, a series of terrorist bombs exploded in Underground trains near Aldgate, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, King's Cross and Edgware Road tube stations. A double-decker bus from London Transport at Tavistock Square was also destroyed in the attacks. The explosions have so far killed over 50 people, and have resulted in over 700 casualties.

There have also been a number of high profile derailments in recent years, mostly on the Central Line.

The system has suffered from significant under-funding in the past two decades and consequently has far older carriages and signals than its equivalents in such cities as Barcelona, Madrid and Paris. Recently, one of the private infrastructure companies, Tube Lines, was reported as using eBay to find spare parts for some of its equipment because they were not available any other way.

IV) Network

The Underground does not run 24 hours a day because all track maintenance must be done at night after the system closes (unlike other metro systems, such as the New York City subway, the Underground does not have express tracks that would allow trains to be rerouted around maintenance sites). Recently, greater use has been made of weekend closures of parts of the system to allow scheduled engineering works.

See also London Underground rolling stock.

Stations
London Underground currently serves 273 stations, which are listed, along with DLR stations, at List of London Underground stations. Stations formerly served by the Underground or its predecessor companies can be found at List of closed London Underground stations.

The Underground actually serves 275 stations, but with Heathrow Terminal 4 and Queensway currently closed, it means that the currently served stations are 273. The temporary closure of Heathrow Terminal 4 is for the Heathrow loop to be modified for servicing of Terminal 5, a new 2-platform Piccadilly Line terminus. It is planned that services will run in the following pattern:

Hatton Cross - Heathrow T1,2,3 - Heathrow T5 - Heathrow T1,2,3 Hatton Cross
Hatton Cross - Heathrow T4 - Heathrow T1,2,3 - Hatton Cross
Some stations have only one platform. These are:

Chesham (Metropolitan Line)
Heathrow Terminal 4 (Piccadilly Line)
Mill Hill East (Northern Line)
Shoreditch (East London Line)

Lines
Lines on the Underground can be classified into two types: sub-surface and deep level. The sub-surface lines were dug by the cut-and-cover method, with the tracks running about 5 m below the surface. Trains on the sub-surface lines have the same loading gauge as British mainline trains. The deep-level or "tube" lines, bored using a tunnelling shield, run about 20 m below the surface (although this varies considerably), with each track running in a separate tunnel lined with cast-iron rings. These tunnels can have a diameter as small as 3.56 m (11 ft 8.25 in) and the loading gauge is thus considerably smaller than on the sub-surface lines, though standard gauge track is used. Lines of both types usually emerge onto the surface outside the central area, the exceptions being the Victoria Line which is in tunnel for its entire length save for a maintenance depot, and the Waterloo & City Line which, being very short, has no non-central part and no surface line. In total, only 45% of the length of the Tube network is in tunnel.

The lack of lines in the south of the city is sometimes attributed to the geology of that area, the region being almost one large aquifer; additionally, it is impossible for cut and cover lines to go under the River Thames. Rather, the reason seems to be that during the great period of tube-building around the end of the 19th century, South London was already well-served by the electrified and efficiently run suburban lines of the London and South Western Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and so there was no need for tubes. Indeed, to this day, the area is served by a large number of suburban rail services run by the South West Trains, Southern and South East Trains franchise holders, with varying degrees of efficiency (see Rail transport in the United Kingdom). More recently, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) has been built to serve the east of London, and extends as far south as Lewisham. The Tube interchanges with the DLR at several stations, including Bank, Canary Wharf and Stratford, as well as with the Tramlink system at Wimbledon. Despite these new links, many residents of south and south-east London feel neglected by the Underground proper.

The Tube connects with international Eurostar trains at Waterloo, and runs to Heathrow Airport (Piccadilly Line). Although the latter is slow (52 minutes nominal to Green Park) and often crowded, it is a far cheaper way to travel to the city centre than the Heathrow Express, which is not part of the tube network.

Links to Stansted Airport care of the Stansted Express are at Liverpool Street (on the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines) and Tottenham Hale (on the Victoria Line) and to Gatwick care of the Gatwick Express at Victoria, served by the District, Circle and Victoria Lines. A new link to Stansted will be opening later in Summer 2005 from Stratford, served by the Central and Jubilee Lines, as well as the DLR.

The future

Expansion
East London Line

Preparations are underway to extend the East London Line (ELL) both northwards and southwards while replacing the current 'sub-surface underground' service with one resembling "Metro" surface trains. Due to the impending changes the line was uniquely omitted from the partial privatisation of the Underground. The northern extension will see the current Shoreditch station closed and the line run on the old Broad Street viaduct to Dalston and then Highbury & Islington, to connect with the Victoria Line. This would bring a non-National Rail service to Hackney for the first time. To the south, two branches are planned, mainly using existing railway lines. The first will run to West Croydon, with a spur to Crystal Palace, while the second would run to Clapham Junction. These changes will by 2010 transform the line from a small stub in the network to a major transport artery.

It is also proposed that together with the existing West London Line and North London Line, the extended ELL could by 2016 form the basis of the long-sought 'Orbital Rail route'.

Piccadilly Line

A new station is being built on the Piccadilly Line to serve Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport. The extension (called PiccEx) consists of a two-platform station, two sidings where trains can be stabled, approximately 3 km of 4.5 m diameter bored tunnels, a ventilation shaft and two escape shafts. Civil works for the two tunnels, the vent shaft, one escape shaft and the structure of T5 station have been completed and track work is now being installed. The junction between PiccEx and the existing Heathrow Loop is now being constructed: this work requires that the tunnels between Terminal 4 and Terminals 1,2,3 be taken out of service until September 2006. The extension is due to be opened in 2007.

Metropolitan Line

TfL, together with Hertfordshire County Council, plans to connect the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line to the disused Croxley Green Network Rail branch. This will bring the Underground back to central Watford and the important main line station Watford Junction, but the current Watford (Metropolitan) station will probably close.

Cooling
In the summer weather, temperatures on the Tube can become very uncomfortable for passengers. Normal air conditioning has been ruled out because of the lack of height to install units on trains and the problems of dispersing the heat generated. Heat pumps were trialled in 1938 and were proposed again several years ago to overcome this, and following a successful demonstration in 2001 funds were given to the School of Engineering at London's South Bank University to develop a prototype; work began in April 2002. A cash reward of £100,000 was offered by the Mayor of London during the hot Summer of 2003 for a solution to the problem but the competition ended in 2005 without a winner being announced.

The new fleet of trains for the sub-surface lines (Circle, District, H&C, Metropolitan and East London lines) will come with air-cooling. The first air-cooled trains are due to arrive in 2009.

There are posters on the Underground suggesting that passengers carry a bottle of water with them.

V) Map


VI) Image
Iconography
London Transport's tube map (pdf) and roundel logo are instantly recognisable by any Londoner, almost any Briton, and many people around the world. The stylised Tube map as we now know it (original maps were often street-maps with the location of the lines superimposed) evolved from an original design[10]by electrical engineer Harry Beck in 1931. See Tube map for an in-depth analysis of its history and its topological nature.

The origins of the "roundel" logo, which in earlier years was known as the 'bulls-eye' or 'target', stems from the decision in 1908 to find a more obvious way of highlighting station names on the systems platforms. The red disc, with blue name bar, was quickly adapted, with the use of the word "UndergrounD" across the bar, as an early corporate identity. The logo was modified by Edward Johnston in 1919. Many theories have been put forward to explain potential origins and explanations of the logo and some include such as that it resembles part of the mark legally required to be painted on the sides of ships, called the Plimsoll line, a previous British invention, or that the logo refers to travel through a circular opening as well. Johnston also designed London Transport's distinctive sans-serif typeface in 1916. The typeface is noted for the curl at the bottom of the minuscule "l", which other sans-serif typefaces have discarded. A version of the typeface, since modified, continues in use today. Much of the reason for the widespread recognition of the London Transport logo is its ubiquitous usage on London Transport documents and signage. It is used for all tube station signs (where the station name appears on the horizontal bar), for example, as well as on in-carriage maps.

Each station displays the Underground logo containing the station's name in place of the word "Underground", both at entrances to the station and repeatedly along the station walls, so that they can easily be seen by passengers on arriving trains. In addition, many stations' walls are decorated in tile motifs that are unique to the station, such as profiles of Sherlock Holmes' head at the Baker Street station or a cross containing a crown at the King's Cross St Pancras station.

Since TfL took control of London's transport the roundel has been applied to other transport types within the city (bus, taxi, tram, DLR etc) in different colour pairs. The roundel has become a symbol for London itself.

London Transport is known for taking legal action against unauthorised use of its trademarks, in spite of which unauthorised copies of the logo continue to crop up worldwide.

In popular culture
See also: List of London Underground-related fiction

The 1967 film Quatermass and the Pit (US Title: Five Million Years to Earth) revolves around alien bodies and spacecraft being discovered in the fictional Hobbs End tube station.
Die Another Day (2002) features the fictional station Vauxhall Cross.
According to Kevin Kline's character Otto in the movie A Fish Called Wanda, the London Underground is a political movement.
Neil Gaiman's novel Neverwhere and the BBC television production of the same name are set in a fantasy world that parallels the structure of the London Underground.
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster in the Harry Potter book series, has a scar above his knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.
In Harry Potter, the train station used by students to get to Hogwarts is Kings Cross.
The 1998 film Sliding Doors shows two parallel universes, hinging on whether the central character (Gwyneth Paltrow) catches a particular Tube train or not.
Amateur Transplants has written and performed a song, also called "London Underground" (see London Underground Song lyrics), which deals with many of the gripes commuters encounter while taking the Tube. This has also been incorporated into a flash animation.[11]
The Underground features in the board game Scotland Yard.
A truly trivial game relating to the Underground is Mornington Crescent.
Paul Weller of the band The Jam wrote the song "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight".
The secret lab in the 1970s TV series The Tomorrow People was in a disused Underground station.













Subway of Madrid



The Madrid Metro is the large metro system serving Madrid, the capital of Spain.

It is one of the largest metro systems in the world, which is especially remarkable considering Madrid's population of approximately four million. In fact, it's among the top 10 longest metros in the world, though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is also one of the fastest growing in the world, rivalled only by the Seoul Metro (Seoul); the latest round of expansions, completed in spring 2003, have increased its length to 227 kilometres. An additional 44 km of metro lines are expected to be constructed by 2007, as well as 30 km of light rail lines that will serve the western region of the metropolitan area.

The metro opened in 1919 under the direction of the Compañía de Metro Alfonso XIII. Metro stations served as air raid shelters during the Spanish Civil War.

Starting in the 1970s, it was sequentially greatly expanded to cope with the influx of population and urban sprawl from Madrid's economic ascendancy. A huge project in the late 1990s and early 2000s installed approximately 50 kilometres of new metro tunnels, including a direct connection between downtown Madrid and Barajas International Airport (line 8), and service to outlying areas, including a huge 40-kilometre loop called MetroSur (line 12) serving Madrid's southern suburbs.

MetroSur, the largest civil engineering project in Europe, opened on April 11, 2003. It includes 40.7 kilometres of tunnel and 28 new stations (including an interchange station and an additional station on Line 10, which connects it to downtown). Construction began in June 2000, the whole loop was completed in less than three years. It connects the towns of Getafe, Móstoles, Alcorcón, Fuenlabrada, and Leganés.

Madrid also has an extensive commuter train (Cercanías) network operated by Renfe, the national rail line, which is intermodal with the metro network. Several Cercanías transfer stations were included in MetroSur.







Subway of Paris


The Paris Métro is the metro (underground) system in Paris, France. It was originally known as the "Chemin de Fer Métropolitain" ("Metropolitan railway"), then "Métropolitain," quickly abbreviated to "Métro". Speakers of verlan call it "le tromé."

The system consists of 16 lines, identified by numbers from 1 to 14, with two minor lines 3bis and 7bis, numbered thus because they are branch lines split off from the original lines 3 and 7. It is the third longest metro in Western Europe, after the London Underground and the Madrid Metro.

Brief technical points:

213 km (132 miles) of track, over 300 stations
circulation is on the right
track gauge of 1.435 meters (standard gauge, like the French main lines) -- but trains are narrower than mainlines, so the Metro can run on mainlines but not vice versa
power collection: third rail
average distance between stations is approx 300 m (328 yards)
lines 1, 4, 6, 11, and 14 are rubber-tired
line 14 is driverless (fully automatic)
One single ticket price for any journey, unlimited connections, but limited to a 2-hour ride.

A second network of regional express lines, the RER (Réseau Express Régional) complements the network since the 1970s.


A familiar sight in Paris: tourists looking at a city map in front of a Métro entrance (here the Art nouveau entrance to the Cité station)

I) Existing lines
1: La Défense - Château de Vincennes


First section opened July 19, 1900

Converted to rubber-tired operation 1964

2: Porte Dauphine - Nation


First section opened December 13, 1900


Most of lines 2 and 6 is built over the boulevards, with aerial stations.

3: Pont de Levallois-Bécon - Gallieni


First section opened October 19, 1904

3bis: Gambetta - Porte des Lilas


Opened November 27, 1921 (then part of line 3)

Detached from line 3 April 2, 1971


Inside the Métro, here at the Simplon station

4: Porte de Clignancourt - Porte d'Orléans


First section opened April 21, 1908

Converted to rubber-tired operation 1967

5: Place d'Italie - Bobigny-Pablo Picasso


First section opened June 2, 1906 (some sections opened earlier are now part of line 6)

6: Charles de Gaulle-Étoile - Nation


First section opened October 2, 1900 (then part of line 5)

Converted to rubber-tired operation 1974

7: Villejuif-Louis Aragon/Mairie d'Ivry - La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945


First section opened November 5, 1910

7bis: Louis Blanc - Pré-Saint-Gervais


Opened January 18, 1911 (then part of line 7)

Detached from line 7 December 3, 1967


A train in the Palais Royal / Musee du Louvre station8: Balard - Créteil-Préfecture


First section opened July 13, 1913

9: Pont de Sèvres - Mairie de Montreuil


First section opened November 8, 1922

10: Boulogne-Pont de Saint-Cloud - Gare d'Austerlitz


First section opened July 13, 1913 (then part of line 8)

11: Châtelet - Mairie des Lilas


First section opened April 28, 1935

Converted to rubber-tired operation November 8, 1956

12: Mairie d'Issy - Porte de La Chapelle


First section opened November 5, 1910 (as part of Nord-Sud line A)

13: Châtillon-Montrouge - Gabriel Péri-Asnières-Gennevilliers/Saint Denis-Université


First section opened February 26, 1911 (as part of Nord-Sud line B)

First section opened by CMP December 30, 1923 (then part of line 10)

14: Saint-Lazare - Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

First section (Madeleine - Bibliothèque François Mitterrand) opened October 15, 1998

Saint-Lazare terminus opened December 16, 2003

Olympiade terminus (instead of Bibliothèque) is to open in 2006.
Line 14 is fully automated. There are no drivers in trains. The platforms are separated from the tracks by transparent walls, and both the trains and platforms have doors that open automatically when the train is stopped, perfectly aligned with the doors.

An earlier line 14 Invalides-Porte de Vanves existed from July 29, 1937, when it was detached from line 10, to November 9, 1976, when it was incorporated into line 13.

II) Architecture
One of the most famous aspects of the Paris metro are its wrought-iron art nouveau entrances by Hector Guimard, which have come to symbolize Paris although not very many remain in use (86 entrances by Guimard still exist).


Abbesses station - one of the art nouveau metro station entrances designed by Hector Guimard

III) History
Line 1 was inaugurated on July 19, 1900, after decades of political wrangling over routes and construction. Short sections of the present lines 2 and 6 (then numbered 5) were completed in the same year to serve the World's Fair.

The lines 1 through 10 were built by the Ville de Paris (City of Paris) and run by the CMP (Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris). It is thought that the name was after the Metropolitan Railway in London, which later became part of the London Underground.


A second company, "Nord-Sud" (Société du Chemin de Fer Electrique Nord-Sud de Paris) started up in 1910 and built two lines named A and B (now part of lines 12 and 13). "Nord-Sud" merged in 1930 with the CMP (line 11 and the "first" line 14 were completed after the merger). CMP became state-owned in 1948 and renamed RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens).

IV) Accidents
August 1903 Paris Metro train fire, caused by incompetence and panic, kills 84.




























Thank you

[sNiFflEs]

very nice

[asohn]

Where's New York?

[brummad]

east coast of america i think

[thryve]

Nice to see another fan of subway trains... other than myself that is... underground transit trains ROCK!

[asohn]

Originally Posted by brummad

east coast of america i think

Okay thanks, it must have slipped my mind.

[HighSpeedTrain]

Mexico City Metro

[VelesHomais]

Kyiv, Ukraine. METRO ( subway )

There are 3 cities with metro/subway in Ukraine. Fourth one is under construction and another city has underground trams.

KYIV SUBWAY



a card/ticket for metro




outside


























And traincars are equipped with plasma tv's for entertainment, news, announcements...

[TalB]

I will admit that the NYC subway map may look like a mess, but at least it actually works, which is all that matters to me even though I don't use it a lot.

[France-Team]

I thank you all. I'm sorry not to have put New York because I did not find good information. Then the Parisian subway functions very well!

[TalB]

The NYC subway system is one of the oldest in the US and in the world. It goes back to as far as 1904 when it was inagurated at City Hall. As a matter of fact, one of the things that makes it so unique is that none of the lines go outside of city limits unlike other cities. The subway is most dependable use of transport for people in NYC to get around. Since there are too many pics, here are some places you look about for the subway.

NYC Subway
Forgotten NY
Transit Pics
Transit Spot

[advani_fan]

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=227548
pics of the delhi metro

[samba_man]

Kiev Stations are really awesomeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bitxofo]

Very interesting thread but lots of metro systems missing...

[hify_ameet]