The opening recently of the extension of the Metropolitan Railway to
Harrow, and the early commencement of another of the lines of the
company, give especial prominence to it. The Metropolitan Underground
Railway is emphatically the great passenger railway of the country, for
its few miles of line carry more than the hundreds of miles of line of
companies such as the London and North Western or Great Western.
Seventeen years ago--in 1868--the Metropolitan carried less than
10,000,000 passengers, and in the full year's work of the following
twelve months it carried less than 12,000,000. But year by year, almost
without exception, the number of passengers has grown. In 1865, over
15,000,000 passengers were carried; in 1867, over 23,000,000; and in
1870, over 39,000,000 passengers traveled on the line. The years that
have since passed have swollen that number. In 1872, over 44,300,000
were carried, but in the following year there was one of the few checks,
and not till 1875 was the number of 1872 exceeded. In 1875 it rose to
48,302,000; in 1877 it had advanced to 56,175,000; in 1878 to
58,807,000; and in 1879 to 60,747,000. In the present year there has
been a further advance, the number carried for the first six months of
the present year being 31,592,429. When it is borne in mind that this is
equal to 7,272 passengers every hour, and that the length of line worked
by the company's engines, including that of the "foreign" line worked,
is slightly less than 25 miles, the fecundity in traffic of the
metropolitan district must be said to be marvelous. It is to be
regretted that the official account from which these figures are given
does not give any idea of the number of passengers in the different
classes, for such a return would be of value. It is a marvelous fact in
the history of locomotion that this great passenger traffic is worked
with not more than 53 engines, while the total number of carriages, 195,
is in comparison with the number of travelers in them a marvel in
railway history. But it is tolerably clear that there is yet a vast
amount of undeveloped metropolitan traffic, and it is also certain that
as that traffic is developed the future of the Metropolitan as it
attains more completeness will be brighter even than it has been in the
past. The great city is more and more the mart of the world, and the
traffic and travel to and in it must increase. That increase will be
shared in considerable degree by the "underground" companies, and as
they have shown that their capabilities of traffic are almost boundless,
it may be expected that the oldest and the chief of these will in the
early future know a growth as continuous if less rapid than in the past.
We take the above from the _Engineer_, London. In this city there are
now existing 27 miles of elevated steam railways for local passenger
traffic. These roads have carried during the past year 61,000,000 of
passengers. In this service they employ 175 locomotives and 500
passenger cars. It is a terrible nuisance to have these locomotives and
cars constantly whizzing through the public streets; still the roads are
a great accommodation. The only underground railway in this city is that
of the New York Central and Hudson River, 4 miles in length, extending
under Fourth avenue from Forty-second street to Harlem River. Over this
road the enormous traffic of the Central, Harlem, and the New Haven
roads, with their connections, passes. But so removed from public sight
are the cars and locomotives that the existence of this underground
railway is almost forgotten.
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