The new tubular underground Central London Railway, which connects Shepherd's
Bush with the Bank, was formally opened by the Prince of Wales on Wednesday afternoon. The time occupied in the transit from the Bank to the depot at Shepherd's Bush was just under twenty-two minutes, but when the line is opened to the public allowance will have to be made for stops at the stations—twenty seconds at each—as well as for the time lost in starting and stopping. The motive
force is electricity, the generating station at Shepherd's Bush being the largest in Europe; the carriages are built on the American pattern ; and the normal fare is fixed at 2d. for any distance. It may be noted that the two tubes or tunnels through which the trains run are fixed at a depth of from 85 ft. to 96 ft. below the surface, and that the cost of the line is stated to be 210 an inch. For the moment we can only echo the Prince of Wales's congratulations to Sir Benjamin Baker on the completion of a prodigious feat of engineering. Whether the new railway will sensibly relieve our congested street traffic remains to be seen. If it does succeed, this line will be the first of a network of these deep-level electrical lines.
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