Portal:London transport

The London transport portal

London transport

The London transport system is one of the oldest and largest public transport systems in the world. Many components of its transport system, such as the double-decker bus, the Hackney Carriage black taxi and the London Underground, are internationally recognised symbols of London.

Most transport services in London are controlled by Transport for London (TfL), an executive agency of the Greater London Authority. TfL-controlled services include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the London Overground, Buses and Trams, most of which accept payment by the Oyster card. TfL also administers the congestion charge zone and the low emission zone.

London has a comprehensive rail network with several major railway stations linking to the rest of the country. International travel is possible from St Pancras International which connects to mainland Europe through the Eurostar service, or from one of six international airports, including Heathrow or Gatwick.

The M25 is an orbital motorway which enables vehicles to avoid travelling through central London and is one of the busiest motorways in Europe.

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Oxford Circus is a London Underground station serving Oxford Circus at the junction of Regent Street and Oxford Street, with entrances on all four corners of the intersection. The station is an interchange between the Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines. The station was originally opened by the Central London Railway in 1900 and an interchange was provided with the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway when it opened in 1906. The original station buildings are each side of the junction of Oxford Street and Argyll Street. Access to the platforms was originally by separate sets of lifts, but the first sets of escalators were installed in 1914. More escalators were installed in 1923 and 1928, although the lifts continued to be used. The current arrangement of the station dates from the reconstruction in the 1960s for the Victoria line. A new ticket hall was excavated beneath under the road junction using a temporary bridge structure called the umbrella spanning the works to keep the junction open. New escalators were provided for the Victoria line which was constructed to have a cross platform interchange with the Bakerloo line. The station is third busiest on the London Underground network with almost 73 million passengers entering and exiting the station in 2008. (Full article...) All selected articles
Today's anniversary
William Henry Barlow FRS FRSE FICE MIMechE (10 May 1812 – 12 November 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was born in Woolwich, the son of mathematician and physist Professor Peter Barlow, who taught at the Royal Military Academy. From the mid 1840s until 1857, Barlow was chief engineer for the Midland Railway, after which he set up his on consultancy in London. Between 1862 and 1869 he was the consultant engineer on the Midland Railway's extension from Bedford to London, designing St Pancras station and the 240-foot (73 m) wide cast iron and glass train shed roof over the platforms, the widest unsupported arch in the world at the time. Barlow was also engineer on the completion of Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol and sat on the committee which investigated the causes of the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879. He designed the replacement Tay Bridge completed in 1887. In 1880, he was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that London Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic? ...that the cause of the Moorgate tube crash in February 1975 was never satisfactorily determined? ...that the shortest distance between two stations on the London Underground is 250 metres (0.16 miles), between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line? ...that at 44 tons, the locomotives of the Central London Railway's first underground trains were so heavy that they shook buildings as they passed 60 feet below and were scrapped after three years? ... that Croydon once had a Central station in addition to East, West and South stations? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 255 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 3Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 4Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 5Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 6The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 7Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 8Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 9Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 10Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 11Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 12The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 13Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 14Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 15Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 16Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 17View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 18The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 19London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
Image 20Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 21Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 22London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
Image 23Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 24Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 25The newly constructed junction of the Westway (A40) and the West Cross Route (A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
Image 26An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 27Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 28Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
Image 29A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 30London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 31The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 32Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 33A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 34Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
Image 35The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 36Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 37London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 38Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 39Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 40Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 41Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 42Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 43Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 44Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 45Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 46The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
Image 47TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 48Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 49Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.