Portal:London transport

The London transport portal

London transport

The London transport system is one of the oldest and largest public transport systems in the world. Many components of its transport system, such as the double-decker bus, the Hackney Carriage black taxi and the London Underground, are internationally recognised symbols of London.

Most transport services in London are controlled by Transport for London (TfL), an executive agency of the Greater London Authority. TfL-controlled services include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, the Elizabeth line, Buses and Trams, most of which accept payment by the Oyster card. TfL also administers the congestion charge zone and the low emission zone.

London has a comprehensive rail network with several major railway stations linking to the rest of the country. International travel is possible from St Pancras International which connects to mainland Europe through the Eurostar service, or from one of six international airports, including Heathrow or Gatwick.

The M25 is an orbital motorway which enables vehicles to avoid travelling through central London and is one of the busiest motorways in Europe.

More about transport in London


Underground	National Rail	Overground	Elizabeth line	DLR	Trams	Buses	River Services	Air

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Selected article
Crossrail is a 118-kilometre (73-mile) railway line in England, running through London to the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex. The central core and a large section of the line, between Paddington in central London and Abbey Wood in the south-east, were due to open in December 2018 but repeated delays led to the opening being rescheduled several times before it opened on 24 May 2022. The route is officially named the Elizabeth line, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. Part of the eastern section, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in Essex, was transferred to a precursor service called TfL Rail in 2015; this section was due to be connected to the core section to Paddington from May 2019 but was delayed until 6 November 2022. The western section, from Paddington to Heathrow Airport and Reading in Berkshire, began operating from December 2019 as planned though without through running to the east of Paddington until after the central section opened. The project was approved in 2007 and construction began in 2009 on the central section and connections to existing lines that will become part of the route. With a budget of £14.8 billion, it is Europe's largest infrastructure construction project. Its main feature is 21 km (13 mi) of new twin tunnels below central London running from Paddington to Stratford and Canary Wharf in the east. An almost entirely new line will branch from the main line at Whitechapel to Canary Wharf, crossing under the River Thames, with a new station at Woolwich and connecting with the North Kent Line at the Abbey Wood terminus. Trains run at frequencies in the central section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction. The Elizabeth line services is intended to relieve pressure on existing east-west London Underground lines such as the Central and District lines, as well as the Jubilee line extension and the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. The need for extra capacity along this corridor is such that the former head of TfL, Sir Peter Hendy, predicted that the Crossrail lines will be "immediately full" as soon as they open. Crossrail will be operated by MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London, in a similar manner to London Overground. (Full article...) All selected articles
Selected biography
Henry Charles Beck (4 June 1902 – 18 September 1974), known as Harry Beck, was an English technical draughtsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office. London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck's radical proposal, an uncommissioned spare-time project, but tentatively introduced it to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. Beck's approach to the map was to remove all geographical content except the River Thames so that the focus could be on the arrangement of lines and stations and to enable the central area to be expanded map. Beck first submitted his idea to Frank Pick in 1931 but it was considered too radical because it didn't show relative distances between stations. After a successful trial of 500 copies in 1932, distributed via a select few stations, the map was given its first full publication in 1933 (700,000 copies). It was immediately popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since. Beck's contribution to the visual style of London Underground is recognised with a plaque at what was his local Underground station, Finchley Central; with a blue plaque at his birth place in Leyton and the Beck Gallery at the London Transport Museum. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that the ticket hall at Bank station is partly built in the crypt of Nicholas Hawksmoor's church, St Mary Woolnoth? ...that 900 London buses were commandeered for use as troop transports on the Western Front during World War I? ...that the longest distance between two adjacent stations on the London Underground is 6.26 km (3.89 miles), between Chalfont & Latimer and Chesham on the Metropolitan line? ...that the Kingsway tramway subway, the only underground tram route in the United Kingdom, operated under Kingsway from 1906 to 1952 with two underground tram stations at Holborn and Aldwych? Part of the route is still in use as the Strand Underpass. ...that only 45 per cent of the London Underground is actually underground? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 2Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 3Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 4Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 5Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 655 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 7Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 8The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 9London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
Image 10The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 11London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 12The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
Image 13Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 14Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 15Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 16Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 17The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 18Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
Image 19A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 20Tower Bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 21Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 22Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 23An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 24Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 25The newly constructed junction of the Westway (A40) and the West Cross Route (A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
Image 26Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 27Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 28Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
Image 29Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 30Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 31Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 32Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 33Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 34Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 35Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 36Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 37Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 38Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 39"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 40The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 41Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 42London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
Image 43The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 44View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 45Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 46A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 47TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 48Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 49Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regent's Canal.