Night Tube and what do you call your underground railway?
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at 13:39 by Flightlevel.
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BugAdvisorParticipantThe London Underground was the World’s first rapid transit system and underground railway. The Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 and is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. Another first was the London Underground map: Designed in 1931 by the civil servant Harry Beck it was revolutionary in that it wasn’t an exact geographic representation to London above it.
52% of the Underground now runs above ground, but Londoners still refer to it as ‘The Underground’ or ‘The Tube’ – after the shape of the tunnels. Other countries/cities have adopted different names; Paris – Metro, New York – Subway, San Francisco – BART. The name ‘Metro’ seems most popular across Europe and is even used for the underground system in Washington DC. If you call the London Underground/Tube, ‘Metro’, you may be criticised by locals. You could retort that as the London Metropolitan Railway was the first underground railway, the British invented the metro name as well, making it valid – this should appeal to local pride and get you off the hook. ‘Subway’ in Britain means an underground pedestrian road crossing – so don’t use that!
Anyone else use a different name than metro, tube, underground or subway for their underground railway?
London Underground have now announced that the ‘Night Tube’ will run on Fridays and Saturdays from 12th September 2015. Not all lines and stations are covered and there is a new map with owl logo. If you purchase a travelcard on a Friday, that is valid until 04:30 on Saturday morning. All the details are on https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-improvements/the-future-of-the-tube/night-tube?intcmp=22069
24 Jun 2015
at 16:34
AviationGeekParticipantU Bahn (Untergrund = under ground) in German (e.g. Berlin, Vienna, ..).
Part of the U6 in Vienna used to be the Stadtbahn (city train) and in those parts runs on mainly elevated tracks along the Gürtel, with many of the stations being beautiful examples of the Jugenstil (art nouveau).
The trams in Vienna are locally (and fondly) referred to as the Bim, from the sound its bell on its older carriages would make.24 Jun 2015
at 19:36
MartynSinclairParticipantBKK – Skytrain and MRT
Wuppertal Suspension Railway – in … Wuppertal…
Sheffield has the Supertram…
24 Jun 2015
at 22:00
TominScotlandParticipantDublin’s DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) although this uses regular overground tracks
25 Jun 2015
at 03:37
BugAdvisorParticipantThanks for all your replies, but what do you actually say when you take these services? For example, I might say “take the tube to Green Park”.
In Tokyo do you say “take the ChikaTetsu” or just a shortform of that?
In Dublin do you say “take the DART” or just metro?
How about in Wuppertal (wherever that is!) – do you take the WSR?25 Jun 2015
at 12:09
conshaldowParticipantGreat thread. Always been a fan of the London Underground and especially the more modern Undergroup Map, which I think is quite frankly one of the best ever produced.
Here in Glasgow we’ve actually adopted the US way of thinking and it is simply known as the “Subway”. I find this funny as we usually come up for weegy names for everything. But as far as I know everyone refers to it as the Subway.
Also, as it’s just one circular route going each way, this has lead to a lot of young people partaking in the “Subcrawl”. Basically getting off at each station and frequenting the nearest pub for a refreshment along the way. I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Best to start in the city centre and work your way through the more grimy southside, before coming back over the river to the more polished West End.
You know us Glaswegians, we’ll involve drink in ANYTHING.
25 Jun 2015
at 12:51
BugAdvisorParticipantThere’s a similar game in Prague called the ‘end of the line club’. That involves having a large beer in a bar at each end of the three metro lines. It gets harder after a few beers as you aren’t allowed to get off to visit the toilets. Now it’s almost impossible to complete as many of the lines have been extended.
25 Jun 2015
at 13:17
conshaldowParticipantAh the Clockwork Orange is indeed one of it’s alter-egos.
Although if you are travelling on the Inner Line it would be known as The Counter-Clockwork Orange.I’ve heard of the Lewis also. Bugadvisor, there is a similar one on the Metro in Newcastle. On the long line which starts at the docks of Sunderland and work your way in past Byker Grove back into the city centre. It is also a marathon!
25 Jun 2015
at 14:20 -
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