London Tube

The cool English air wraps around the underground passengers just as easily as above, where the cold rain and Canterbury clouds keep citizens secure in their homes and the hearth has their feet thawed. But deep beneath the London streets the old avenues continue to carry the city speedily upon its business of the day, resting at night so the buses and cabs can have their chance to turn the world round and round in the merry old melody of city life. The London Underground (also known as the Tube or The Underground) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England. It is the oldest underground railway in the world, the first section of which opened in 1863 on what are now the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. In 1890 it became the first to operate electric trains. The whole network is commonly referred to by Londoners and in official publicity as the Tube, although that term originally applied only to the deep-level bored lines, along which run trains of a smaller and more circular cross-section, to distinguish them from the sub-surface "cut and cover" lines that were built first. The Underground serves 270 stations and has 402 kilometres (250 mi) of track,making it the second largest metro system in the world in terms of route miles, after the Shanghai Metro. It also has one of the largest numbers of stations. In 2007, more than one billion passenger journeys were recorded, making it the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris. http://www.soundsnap.com/europe_england_uk_city_london_tube_underground_station_platform_train_arriving_and_leaving_commuter_walla_luggage_movements_anno