London Underground (Central Line)

Central Line:

The Central line is a London Undergroundline, coloured red on tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Out of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground. It is the second busiest line on the Underground. The lenghts of this line is 74km.

History:

Although the Central London Railway was incorporated in 1891 for a line between Sheperd's Bush and Bank, the time for completion had to be extended twice (1894, 1899); and it was not until June 27, 1900 that it was formally opened, a month before public traffic began to use the railway on July 30, to Bank station. The railway was initially operated by electric locomotives hauling a train of trailer cars. The distinctive station buildings, many of which survive, were designed by the architect Harry Bell Measures.

Although the tunnels were bored with the unusual diameter of 11 feet 8¼ inches (3.56m), they were not well aligned and it was discovered that the rolling stock, which was already smaller than would be expected for this size of tunnel, would not fit.

In the late 1930s the tunnels were expanded and realigned and the stations lengthened. In 1940, the line was converted to the standard tube for Rail electrification. Because of the manner in which tunnel had been enlarged, it was no longer round and for clearance reasons the positive rail within the original tunnels had to be of an unusual shape with the top contact surface 40 mm (1½ inches) higher than normal.

The Current trains:

In common with virtually all other Underground lines, the Central line is worked by a single type of rolling stock. The Tube Stock was introduced gradually from April 1993 to February 1995, and was the first in London to introduce automated announcement of the next station and connections available. The Tube stock is painted in the standard red.

Here is a picture from a current train.