ZAP’S FACTS!
TRAINS

The London Underground was the world's first subway - and it ran on steam.

Opened in 1863, the early Tube filled tunnels with thick smoke until electric trains finally took over decades later.

2 min read
The London Underground was the world's first subway - and it ran on steam.
THE FULL STORY

London opened the first underground railway in the world in January 1863. The Metropolitan Railway connected Paddington station to Farringdon, and right from day one it was packed. Around 38,000 passengers rode the trains on opening day. Cities all over the world soon started planning their own subways based on the idea.

There was one big problem: the trains were pulled by steam locomotives that burned coal. Underground tunnels filled with thick black smoke, even with vents cut into the roofs of the stations. Passengers coughed, eyes watered, and clothes came out smelling like a chimney. Newspaper reports of the era called the air “barely tolerable.”

The London Underground finally switched to electric trains starting in 1890, which fixed the smoke issue. Today it has 11 lines and about 272 stations, and it carries around 4 million people a day. Londoners just call it the Tube, after the round tunnel shapes that some of the deeper lines run through.

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