Abstract
With a total fleet of 4250 railway cars, London Transport convey over 2 220 000 passengers each working day on a rail network of 236 route miles. More than half a million passengers alight at central London stations between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and the reverse flow takes place between 4.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. This concentrated demand presents a major problem.
It can be shown than an electrified railway system can provide the most efficient and reliable means of rapidly conveying large numbers of people in dense urban areas. Various figures have been published and from these it can be demonstrated that a modern subway system can give a passenger-carrying capacity, under tolerable loading conditions, of between 25 000 and 30 000 per hour in each direction, or equivalent to 10 or 12 lanes of motorway in each direction. The actual capacity, however, will depend on a number of factors, many of which are dictated by the amount of foresight displayed by the original planners and contruction engineers of the line.
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