18-05-2025
The Great Era of Metro Railways Is Just Beginning
On a winter's morning in 1863, a revolution in urban living began. A group of dignitaries boarded a train in Paddington on the growing northwestern fringes of London, and traveled by tunnel six stops to Farringdon, just north of the old heart of the city.
The Metropolitan Railway, which you can still ride today as part of the London Underground, was the first to put regular trains on dedicated tracks, cutting through the gridlock that would otherwise plague modern cities. Over the years, networks sprouted in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Moscow, Hong Kong, Cairo, and elsewhere. By 2013, they encompassed more than 130 cities, stretching 10,922 kilometers (6,787 miles) — sufficient to get you from the equator to the North Pole.
