Why are there so many tunnels under London?

As visitors and workers flocked to the city, its central roads became increasingly congested. Underground railways were built in 1863 to relieve the choked streets. Not everyone liked the early metro system, particularly as its trains relied on sooty steam engines.



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If you're anywhere near as obsessed with subterranean London as we are, you'll be bursting with excitement at the prospect of exploring London's abandoned tube tunnels. These disused stations and platforms spend most of the year in peaceful quiet, but on certain days, tour groups are allowed in to get a look.

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It is easier and safer to dig at depth in London because of the nature of the soil and to avoid other infrastructure and the Thames. It also may result from the fact that London is quite hilly and trains don't like going up hills, so the tube goes through the hill. Some stations are above ground.

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The Royal Borough has two foot tunnels at Greenwich and Woolwich which are used by 1.5 million people a year to cross underneath the river Thames. From Greenwich, you can use the foot tunnel to walk to Island Gardens on the north of the river for the famous Canaletto view of Greenwich.

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2. The tunnel rumours. Rumours of tunnels linking Buckingham Palace to various other parts of London are prevalent. As we've already said, it's unlikely that a tunnel exists linking the palace to the tube.

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As of 2021, the Underground serves 272 stations. 16 stations are outside London region, eight on the Metropolitan line and eight on the Central line.

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London Underground is longer than the Paris Metro at 250 miles, compared to the parisians 133 miles.

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The New York Subway has more stations than the London Underground. Both systems have almost the same route miles. The New York Subway has more track miles because many routes have four tracks rather than the London Underground's two tracks.

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West Norwood and Brompton are the easiest to visit: at West Norwood, you can book a tour (fownc.org; you'll also have to become a 'Friend' of the cemetery for a small fee), and Brompton runs around four catacomb open days a year, when you can tour the atmospheric burial chambers for around £5 (brompton-cemetery.org.uk) ...

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The Thames Tunnel construction was started in 1825 by Marc Isambard Brunel and completed by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel to open in 1843 as a foot tunnel. It became rather notorious for the goings on in the fairly dark tunnel and was sold to a railway company to serve the docks in the Rotherhithe area.

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The bunker goes to the Old War Office (used by Winston Churchill during the war). The Postmaster General's tunnel stretches to the working-class East End in a network of secret underground tunnels complete with more than 30 gears and a dozen elevators.

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On 18 May 1827, after a rising tide, the Thames Tunnel's ceiling collapsed under the weight of the river and a torrent of water filled the structure. Brunel narrowly escaped with his life.

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