New-York tribune., 1871-05-04
UNDER LONDON CITY
THE o,YkcK TRANSIT PRoBLEsi

THE 0lJESk 1kANoll lNVDi~-Di'
TIE HISTORY OF THE UNDERGROUND RAlLkoAp
I'M ITs COsT-PICTITIoUs DlvDENDs-rllE RE- I
ar, re oF EXTENSION-PRBSENT CONDITION
THE OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS.
IFRoM AN oCCAsloHAB CORRESPONDENT
IoNpoN. April 2o.-It must, think, be not
,r short of twenty years ago since the idea OF an unNer
oupd Railroad was lrst seriously taken up in London
The original promoter not the authcr OF the dea wac
the late Mr. Stevens architect of some reputation IN
his tne who closely connected with the corporation
OF the city The primary Recommendation OF the sco
for the construction OF Underground line was S sup
posed cheapneSs. Along the north OF LONDON Hon
Tho Egeware Road In the west the Kings Crcss in the
cast there was an unusually broad, and for London an
unusually straight, thoroughfare, which' under the
pamos of the New and tho Euston Road form the
main channel of communication between the city ana
the northwest OF the metropolis. BY private aeb
passed through Parliament without attracting any es
pecial notice. at time when the railway mania was In
the ascendant permission was granted to Company 10
construct tunnel underneath this Roroughfare without
any other Obligation except that of replacing at the COST
Of the Company the gas pipes, sewers, DC, with wnen
tie soil OF London is honey -combod. The Company hau
also power 20 divert the traffic from any section Oh ~
line Of route under which It's tunncng was beng cH
Iied or. for reasonable tme without charge or cost
was therefore calculated that the MAN, II no' '
expense OF the line would consist in digging -" ~
cutting through loese earth, and then roon"H ~ I'll
with bIickwork the outlay required woula 10 ''-'
PRELIMINARY DELAYS.
Possibly this calculation might baVe ooen l'', -
rect IL the project had been carried out az o-V - e.
tunat, ,t nrosecution delayed for many years io
- r5eod II would have been abandoned
otoretbor ~ the Company had not paiu uepoSi' y.
500 oeo or more TO the Government which uepo'' oou
o,lv be recovered by the execution OF the proco''
considerable portion of the capital as originally SUD
srbed for was held by the Cooperation ana the interests
~ the line were in consequence sacrificed TO some extent
e. hose OF our civic authorities. 1t was determined TO
r,lone the line from Kings Cross to Farrngdonst,
Tins involving the necessity OF purchasing gOod
deal Of land from the Corporation, OF removing
and rebuilding one OF the city PRISONS anu
of facilitating the construction of broad street rom
Kings Cross to Blackiars in which the city was inter
esed The new terminus was a great Improvement on
the one first projected But It's selection involved the
abandonment OF the hea that the underground
line could be constructed solely under puDhc
thoroughfare, without any cost DeyOhu 'nh'
of epgineeripg, On the contrary, hau 10
pay the more for any part OF ground II purchased
All house property is very dear in London; and the
value of each particular site claimed by the company
WAS assessed by househoders interested, directly
or indirectly, the principle that fancy
prices ought to be given. When railroad
ia the purchaser, the paid for lana are
cnormous Moreover in many cases. the opposition OF
land owners had TO bought of by the payment OF
nominal purchase money far in excess OF any amount
that London jury would have awarded. And the re-
that this, as on tue
phseoueuty constructed the main cost Of the line has
consisted IN the fabulous amount paid for and and for
oompensaon to traders whose businesses wereOr were
supDsed TO benjured by the removal Of their premises
COST AND PROFITS.
What the net cost Of the Underground Road woudhaVe
ben had il been constructed in straightforward man
Der IL is absolutely impossible ever to compute The
Company had complicated pecuniary transactions with
tho contractors with Corporation and with the Great
Western Railway and as there Is no such thing IN En-
gland satisfactory audit of Railway accounts, no es
innate can formed of how much Of the capital was
consumed as interest how much In compensation, how
much in works much in that most elastic item
preliminary expenses
At last, in 1885, the Underground Rosd-which about
this time changed its title to the Metropolitan-was
opened to the public The line then constituted ran
from Bishops Road at the top Of Westbourne Terrace,
10 Farrngdonst close to the foot of Holborn Hi It's
length was three miles and half and as its gross cost
was 25OOOo may say that the average costper mile
was Yet in spite OF this outlay the
enterprise promised for time to be grand com
1ercal The traffic returns for the first three
years as follows:
9oS'ss9
1861. fOf,Ooo
Roughly speaking, the working expenses may be estl-
mated az fifty per cent of the gross recepts the net
profits, therefore, on the year 1865 would have been