Lesson 5 theme: underground railways starter

Underground, opened on the 10th of January, 1863. It was a short distance
railway, only a few miles in length, and Londoners went on travelling by 
surface transport as they feared to get deep under the ground. But this 
situation did not last long. Wishing to attract more passengers to the underground
railway Alfred Stanley, General Manager of the Metropolitan line, filled the 
stations with flowers and wild animals in cages
;
(2) While travelling, however, public experienced many discomforts. The 
tunnels were made as small as possible in order to reduce the construction costs.
The coaches themselves were small and narrow. No wonder
1
that people called this 
underground line a "sardine-box railway". The small windows in the trains were 
made in the roof so that passengers could see nothing. The oil and gas lamps used 
gave little light. So passengers wishing comforts while travelling, had to take candles
with them together. The steam locomotives filled the tunnels with steam and
smoke. It was this discomfort that later on made engineers introduce electric 
traction for hauling train Ton underground railways. 
(3) When put into service, electric trains , eliminated steam and smoke 
and ensured a much more frequent service for passengers: Since that time the
construction of great rapid subway systems in such great cities as London, New York, 
Berlin and Moscow has become, practicable. 
II 
The Tashkent Metro (Uzbek: Toshkent metropoliteni) is the rapid transit 
system serving the city of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It is one of only two 
subway systems currently operating in Central Asia (the other one being the Almaty 
Metro). It was the seventh metro to be built in the former USSR, opening in 1977. Its 
stations are among the most ornate in the world. Unlike most of the ex-Soviet metros, 
the system is shallow . 
The Tashkent Metro consists of three lines, operating on 36.2 kilometres (22.5 
mi) of route and serving 29 stations. In 2013, the metro carried 59.2 million 
passengers, which corresponds to a daily average of approximately 162,200 riders. 
The Tashkent Metro comprises three lines which operate on 36.2 kilometres 
(22.5 mi) of route and serve 29 stations. Planning for the Tashkent Metro started in 
1968, two years after a major earthquake struck the city in 1966. Construction on the 
first line began in 1972 and it opened on November 6, 1977 with nine stations. This 
line was extended in 1980, and the second line was added in 1984. The most recent 
line is the Yunusobod Line, the first section of which opened in 2001. 
A northern extension of this line is currently under construction, and a fourth 
line was to start construction in 2010, but has been delayed. 
The depth of the metro's underground tunnels varies between 8–25 metres (26–
82 ft). The strong construction of these three lines can resist earthquakes of a 
magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale.It sports a 1,520 mm gauge and a third rail 
power supply (825 V DC). The average station distance is 1.40 kilometres . 

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