The United Kingdom opened the world’s first underground railway when London’s Metropolitan Railway began service in 1863.
The original line connected Paddington with Farringdon, using cut-and-cover construction beneath streets. Steam locomotives hauled wooden passenger carriages, and the railway immediately offered a way to reduce congestion in central London.
The Metropolitan Railway was not the first railway in Britain, but it was the first designed to run underground as a city transit route. It later expanded into the network that became part of the London Underground, commonly called the Tube.
The first trains were powered by steam, so smoke and ventilation were major problems in the tunnels. Electric underground trains appeared later. The London Underground’s famous roundel and map belong to the modern system that grew from several independent railway companies.