Portal:London transport

The London transport portal

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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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Selected article
London Paddington station is a major National Rail and London Underground station complex in the Paddington area of central London, England. Much of the current mainline station dates from 1854, and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway. The site was first served by underground trains in 1863, and was the original western terminus of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Today, the mainline station is served by trains from First Great Western, Heathrow Express, Heathrow Connect and Chiltern Railways and Underground services are provided by the Hammersmith & City, Circle, District and Bakerloo lines and is used by approximately 29 million mainline and 48.55 million Underground passengers each year. (Full article...) All selected articles
Selected biography
Henry Charles Beck (4 June 1902 – 18 September 1974), known as Harry Beck, was an English technical draughtsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office. London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck's radical proposal, an uncommissioned spare-time project, but tentatively introduced it to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. Beck's approach to the map was to remove all geographical content except the River Thames so that the focus could be on the arrangement of lines and stations and to enable the central area to be expanded map. Beck first submitted his idea to Frank Pick in 1931 but it was considered too radical because it didn't show relative distances between stations. After a successful trial of 500 copies in 1932, distributed via a select few stations, the map was given its first full publication in 1933 (700,000 copies). It was immediately popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since. Beck's contribution to the visual style of London Underground is recognised with a plaque at what was his local Underground station, Finchley Central; with a blue plaque at his birth place in Leyton and the Beck Gallery at the London Transport Museum. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that the "Mind the gap" announcement is played when trains stop at stations with curved platforms to warn passengers of gaps between the platform edge and the doors? ...that 900 London buses were commandeered for use as troop transports on the Western Front during World War I? ...that the controversial demolition of the original Euston station and the destruction of the iconic Euston Arch in the early 1960s was opposed by many including John Betjeman and Nikolaus Pevsner and led to the formation of the modern conservation movement in the Britain? ...that their specially designed small turning circle enables London's black cabs to make 50 million U-turns per year? ... 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 1Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 2The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 3Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 4Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 5A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 6Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 7Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 8Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 9"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 10TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 11Arguably 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 12Sailing 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 13Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 14London 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 15Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 16Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 17Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 18The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 19Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 20Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 2155 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 22Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 23Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 24The 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 25Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 26Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 27Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 28Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 29Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 30Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 31London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 32View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 33London 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 34The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 35An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 36Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 37Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 38Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 39The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 40London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 41Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 42Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 43Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 44Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 45Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 46The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 47The 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 48Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 49A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.