Why are there so many tunnels under London?

Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by claudius on Sunday December 01, 2013 @06:09AM (#6826859)

And I am very thankful that the undergrounds in the cities where I spent most of my time were built much later: Tunnelling techniques evolved quickly during the late 18th and early 19th century, allowing for much more ‘comfortable’ tunnel diameters – there is a reason the London Underground is called the tube, it’s difficult to stand in most of its trains.

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by quarterto on Sunday December 01, 2013 @10:09AM (#6827502)

> late 18th and early 19th century

The first underground lines were in 1863. That's the mid 19th century. The first deep level train (what's actually the Tube) was the City & South London Railway, opened in 1890 (late 19th century). Check yo fax.

> it’s difficult to stand in most of its trains

Not unless you're like 6' 6" (and thus taller than 99.5% of males). http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62018000/jpg/_62018161...

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by claudius on Sunday December 01, 2013 @05:20PM (#6829669)

> > late 18th and early 19th century

> opened in 1890 (late 19th century). Check yo fax.

HN, of all communities, should be familiar with off-by-one errors. My apologies for the confusion; you are right, I was referring to the late 19th and early 20th century.

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by sokoloff on Sunday December 01, 2013 @11:38AM (#6827942)

"Check yo fax" is not consistent with the standards of the HN community (nor with the overall high quality of the rest of your comment).

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by archangel_one on Sunday December 01, 2013 @07:38AM (#6827050)

Nope - the newest lines (Victoria, Jubilee) are all smaller diameter trains. The larger, squarer cut+covers (District, Circle, Metropolitan etc) are generally older, because you can't cut a trench across London for a new Tube line any more.

It's still not hard to stand on any of the trains as long as you're not right beside the door on a Tube (unless you're extremely unusually tall, but the odds are well against that).

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by therobotking on Sunday December 01, 2013 @06:33AM (#6826922)

This is complete nonsense. It's perfectly easy to stand up in the underground train cars.

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by nemesisj on Sunday December 01, 2013 @06:54AM (#6826954)

There are two sizes of tube trains - "deep tube" and "sub surface" trains. The deep tube trains are much smaller, and they are difficult to stand in if you're near the doors for anyone who's over 6 feet (I'm 6'4"). That said, it's not the end of the world, as you're only standing there when it's crowded, but it does happen.

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground#Trains

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by ColinWright on Sunday December 01, 2013 @06:43AM (#6826939)

How tall are you? I'm 5'11", or 1.80 m, and I have no trouble at all standing in trains on the London underground.

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by claudius on Sunday December 01, 2013 @05:18PM (#6829663)

Roughly 1.95m and while standing in the very middle is possible, it does feel more like an airplane rather than a train. Admittedly, I also like to have some space above my head and don’t always feel perfectly comfortable in tight spaces, so that might well contribute to a (perceived) lack of space.

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Re:Why are there so many tunnels under London? by justincormack on Sunday December 01, 2013 @06:43AM (#6826941)

Most of the early ones were "cut and cover" and quite big, rather than bored. And there is little difference in the sizes of the tunnelled ones.

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