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but offered no detail as to how this might
be achieved.
The idea was not new, having first been
suggested in the 1830s. One of its earliest
advocates was the City Corporation’s
solicitor, Charles Pearson. He was an
unusually forward-thinking man who could
see both economic and social benefits to
linking the main-line railways with the
City. Pearson proposed a railway with up to
eight tracks running in a covered way under
a broad new road down the Fleet valley
from King’s Cross to a large goods and
passenger terminal at Farringdon. This was
to form part of an existing improvement
scheme to clear the insanitary slum areas
of Clerkenwell. The displaced inhabitants,
Pearson suggested, could move out to
healthier suburbs and be offered cheap
fares for a daily train journey to work
in the centre of town.
The Metropolitan Railway gained
parliamentary approval in 1854. The
original contracts specified that the railway
should be completed in 21 months but,
in the way that has become familiar with
large infrastructure projects ever since,
work fell behind schedule. At last, a formal
opening ceremony took place on 9 January
1863, with a trip along the line for guests
followed by a banquet at Farringdon Street
station. The following day, Saturday 10 © TFLJanuary 1863, the first urban underground
railway in the world opened its station
doors to the public. Despite predictions in
the press that Londoners would never take
to underground travel, the Metropolitan
was well patronised from the start. On the
first day alone, nearly 40,000 passengers
undertook the 18-minute journey.
The line soon attracted regular users
and sightseers, and in its first six months of
operation it carried an average of 26,500
passengers per day. Whatever their initial
fears and misgivings, Londoners were not
put off and were soon lured underground
in ever-increasing numbers.The District and Circle
The 1860s were boom years for railway
promotion in London. The first main-line
extension over the river from the south wasOn 10 January 1863, the
first urban underground
railway in the world
opened to the public