Metropolitan line in the context of "Cut and cover"

The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. It is part of the network of transport services managed by Transport for London.

The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, opening on 10 January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway. Despite sulfurous fumes, the line was a success from its opening, carrying 9.5 million passengers in the first year of its existence. The Metropolitan is now part of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line.

The Circle line is a spiral-shaped London Underground line, running from Hammersmith in the west to Edgware Road and then looping around central London back to Edgware Road. The railway is below ground in the central section and on the loop east of Paddington. Unlike London's deep-level lines, the Circle line tunnels are just below the surface and are of similar size to those on British main lines. Printed in yellow on the Tube map, the 17-mile (27 km) line serves 36 stations, including most of London's main line termini. Almost all of the route, and all the stations, are shared with one or more of the three other sub-surface lines, namely the District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines combined, over 141 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2019.

The first section became operational in 1863 when the Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground line between Paddington and Farringdon with wooden carriages and steam locomotives. The same year a select committee report recommended an "inner circle" of lines connecting the London railway termini, and the Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway) was formed to build the southern portion of the line.

The Hammersmith & City line is a London Underground line that runs between Hammersmith in west London and Barking in east London. Coloured pink on the Tube map, it serves 29 stations over 15.8 miles (25.5 km). Between Farringdon and Aldgate East it skirts the City of London, the capital's financial heart, hence the line's name. Its tunnels are just below the surface and are a similar size to those on British main lines. Most of the track and all stations are shared with the Circle, District or Metropolitan lines. Over 141 million passenger journeys are made each year on the Hammersmith & City line.

In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway began the world's first underground railway service between Paddington and Farringdon with wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The following year, a railway west from Paddington to Hammersmith was opened and this soon became operated and owned jointly by the Metropolitan and Great Western Railway companies. The line was then extended to the east, in stages, reaching the East London Railway in 1884. The line was electrified in 1906, and, in 1936, after the Metropolitan Railway had been absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board, some Hammersmith & City line trains were extended over the former District Railway line to Barking. The Hammersmith & City route was shown on the Tube map as part of the Metropolitan line until 30 July 1990, when it was redesignated as a separate line.

The Central line is a London Underground line that runs between West Ruislip or Ealing Broadway in the west, and Epping or Woodford via Hainault in the north-east, via the West End, the City, and the East End. Printed in red on the Tube map, the line serves 49 stations over 46 miles (74 km), making it the network's longest line. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan line. One of London's deep-level railways traversing narrow tunnels, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines.

The line was opened as the Central London Railway in 1900, crossing central London on an east–west axis along the central shopping street of Oxford Street to the financial centre of the City of London. It was later extended to the western suburb of Ealing. In the 1930s, plans were created to expand the route into the new suburbs, taking over steam-hauled outer-suburban routes to the borders of London and beyond to the east. These projects were mostly realised after the Second World War, when construction stopped and the unused tunnels were used as air-raid shelters and factories. However, suburban growth was limited by the Metropolitan Green Belt: of the planned expansions one (to Denham, Buckinghamshire) was cut short and the eastern terminus of Ongar ultimately closed in 1994 due to low patronage; part of this section between Epping and Ongar later became the Epping Ongar Railway. The Central line has mostly been operated by automatic train operation since a major refurbishment in the 1990s, although all trains still carry drivers. Many of its stations are of historic interest, from turn-of-the-century Central London Railway buildings in west London to post-war modernist designs on the West Ruislip and Hainault branches, as well as Victorian-era Eastern Counties Railway and Great Eastern Railway buildings east of Stratford, from when the line to Epping was a rural branch line.

Preston is a small locality in northwest London. It forms part of the London Borough of Brent and the northern part of Wembley. It is a residential suburb containing Preston Road Station (Metropolitan line) with some stores on either side. The area to the station's north is covered under the HA3 postcode and is, along with the area around South Kenton station to the west, normally considered part of Kenton.

The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line which runs between the west and the north of London with 53 stations on the line. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are near tourist attractions in Central London such as King's Cross, Piccadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace. It has two western branches which split at Acton Town, with the main one towards Heathrow Airport terminals and the other northern branch towards Uxbridge. The District and Metropolitan lines share some sections of track with the Piccadilly line. The line is printed in dark blue (officially "Corporate Blue", Pantone 072) on the Tube map. It is the sixth-busiest line on the Underground network, with nearly 218 million passenger journeys in 2019.

The first section, between Finsbury Park and Hammersmith, was opened in 1906 as the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR). The station tunnels and buildings were designed by Leslie Green, featuring ox-blood terracotta facades with semi-circular windows on the first floor. When Underground Electric Railways of London (UERL) took over the line, it was renamed the Piccadilly line. Subsequent extensions were made to Cockfosters, Hounslow West and Uxbridge in the early 1930s, when many existing stations on the Uxbridge and Hounslow branches were rebuilt to designs by Charles Holden of the Adams, Holden & Pearson architectural practice. These were generally rectangular, with brick bases and large tiled windows, topped with a concrete slab roof. The western extensions took over certain existing District line services, which were fully withdrawn in 1964.

King's Cross St Pancras (/ˈkɪŋz ˈkrɒs sənt ˈpæŋkrəs/; also known as King's Cross & St Pancras International) is a London Underground station on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden, Central London. It serves King's Cross and St Pancras main line stations in London fare zone 1, and is served by six lines: Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria. The station was one of the first to open on the network. As of 2024, it is the 2nd busiest station on the network for passenger entrances and exits combined.

On the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, the station is between Euston Square and Farringdon stations. On the Bank branch of the Northern line the station is between Euston and Angel stations, on the Piccadilly line it is between Russell Square and Caledonian Road stations, and on the Victoria line it is between Euston and Highbury & Islington stations.

Baker Street is a London Underground station, located at the junction of Baker Street and Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster. It is one of the original stations of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), the world's first underground railway, opened on 10 January 1863.

The station is in London fare zone 1 and is served by five lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines the station is between Edgware Road and Great Portland Street stations, and on the Metropolitan line it is between Finchley Road and Great Portland Street stations. On the Bakerloo line the station is between Marylebone and Regent's Park stations, and on the Jubilee line it is between St John's Wood and Bond Street stations.

Harrow-on-the-Hill is an interchange railway station in Harrow, served by suburban London Underground services on the Metropolitan line and commuter National Rail services on the London–Aylesbury line. It is 9 miles 18 chains (9.23 mi; 14.85 km) down the line from London Marylebone. Harrow-on-the-Hill is the final Metropolitan line station from Central London before the line splits with the main branch towards Watford, Chesham or Amersham and the diverged Uxbridge branch towards Uxbridge. It is located in London fare zone 5.