The figures behind this are shocking
Despite being called the London Underground, nearly half of the 250-mile (400km) network is above the ground. In fact, only two of the 11 lines are actually underground: The Victoria line and the Waterloo & City line (which is also the shortest by some way).
Then, in other cases, such as Whitechapel and West Hampstead, the Tube hilariously runs above the Overground Windrush and Mildmay lines.
The Underground’s name comes from its origins as the Metropolitan Railway, which ran between Paddington and Farringdon and opened in 1863. It was designed using the cut-and-cover method, in which engineers dug a trench, laid the rail, and then built a ‘cap’ to cover the railway.
The method was employed not long after the construction of the District Railway, running between South Kensington and Westminster. The services went on to become namesake lines today, Metropolitan and District.
According to research from analytics company Esri UK, 86 per cent of the Metropolitan line is above ground. Most of the underground parts of the network, as shown on TfL’s map, are perhaps unsurprisingly in Central London. But once you leave the centre, you start finding yourself increasingly overground.
The term ‘Underground’ didn’t become popular until the early 20th Century when the Underground Electric Railway Company of London (known as the Underground Group) was established and snapped up all lines bar the Metropolitan line.
By 1908, the name ‘Underground’ began appearing at stations alongside the iconic roundel symbol. Nowadays, the Underground is up there with telephone boxes and double-decker buses as one of the city’s most iconic features.
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