It’s funny how sometimes we, and everybody else, can become victims of our own success. Back in the 19th century, the „Victorian London“ was facing a huge problem – the population was growing at such rate that the number of people that were living in the city caused a lot of trouble.
Such rapid increase in the city put London’s already poor infrastructure under the huge pressure. The biggest problem was the transport. Victorian London had too many people and they just couldn’t get to where they needed to go. There are a lot of books about this period in the history of this city, some of them are even named Victorian London.
There were a couple of new railways back in 1829, but the real solution to this huge transport problem was the introduction of the underground railways. That was a real life changer in London.
In 1860, the work on the Metropolitan Railway began and it was the first „train in drain.“ It was able to transport 26.000 people a day when the railway was finished back in 1863.
After that, the success of the underground railways encouraged this city to continue working on this and to make their transport solutions even better. The underground traveling only expanded in the 20th century. Even to this day, the London Underground or better know as the „Tube“ is crucial for the city.
Around three million journeys are made each and every day, people are traveling across 408 km of train lines. This Victorian intervention was huge for the city, there is no doubt about that.
Once upon a time, the city almost became too great for its own good. Now, we are looking back at this Victorian era of London, knowing that this invention was one of the best things that have ever happened for the capital of the United Kingdom.
Source: historyinanhour.com
