Describe the causes that led to the need for the underground railway. Why was the construction of underground railway criticised ?
(1) The factors which were responsible for the construction of underground railway were as mentioned below : The city had extended beyond the range where people could walk to work. Development of suburbs made new forms of mass transport absolutely necessary. People could also be persuaded to leave the city and live in garden suburbs unless there was some means of travelling to the city for work. (2) The development of the underground railway was criticised on the following grounds : People were afraid to travel in underground railway as passengers used to smoke. As a result the atmosphere was a mixture of sulphur, coal dust and foul fumes which was a menace to health. Some called the underground railways as ‘iron monsters’ that added to the mess and unhealthiness of the city. The construction of underground railway had led to massive destruction. It was estimated that about 900 houses were destroyed for construction of two miles of railway. Generally, massive displacement of the poor took place. Charles Dickens wrote in Dombey and Son (1848) about the massive destruction in the process of construction : “Houses were knocked down; streets broken through and stopped; deep pits and trenches dug iij the ground; enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; …. there were a hundred thousand shapes and substances of incompleteness, wildly mingled out their places, upside down, burrowing in the earth.” But in spite of all the criticism, the Underground eventually became a huge success.
