The EFL SMARTblog: 150 Years of The Tube

Thursday 10 January 2013

150 Years of The Tube

You are going to

listen to a radio clip about the London Underground
do a comprehension activity

Discuss

Does your city have a metro or underground railway?
How old is it?
Have you ever been on the Tube in London?
What do you know about it?

Listen

What was London like 150 years ago?
What effect did the Tube have on London?

listen to ‘Celebrating 150 Years of the Tube’ on Audioboo

Listen again and do the quiz below

Alternative vocabulary gap fill exercise here

Printable worksheets here

Read

Interesting Facts about the Tube

Each year, every Tube train travels 114,500miles/184,269km.
The average speed of a train is 33km/20.5 miles per hour.
Only 45 per cent of the network is actually in tunnels.
There are 426 escalators. Waterloo has the most: 23.
The total number of lifts, including four stair lifts, on the Underground network is 164.
The deepest lift shaft is at Hampstead station and is 55.2m.
The total number of carriages in the Underground’s fleet is 4,134.
The total number of stations currently served is 270.
The total number of staff on the Underground is approximately 19,000.
The total length of the Tube network is 402km/249 miles.
The deepest station below street level in central London is Bank, which is 41.4m deep.
In outer London, Hampstead is the deepest station below street level, at 58.5m.