European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1962, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Serving 2 million passengers daily Oit Don before the wih. Cor by John Krueger is London Bureau old lady London ills reach a critical stage with hardening of the transportation arteries subway strike. That1 when the commuter realize it s taster orbiting the Earth three times than driving to work. Pay Booster shots for Lubway employ Esmay help to stamp out the disease. Bus and underground fares Are expected to go up this summer but the minimum charge of 3 Pence 4 cents a mile should Lay the Tan London a and the worlds first under ground railway system famed As the tube keep the Cut liens of the City circulating at a rate of More than 2 million passengers a Day. The Man in the Street May have his Eye a space but his roots Are firmly planted Enders around 19th Century produced its colonel Glenn but instead of up Manship it was Down Mansilp. And instead of a spacesuit he wore a top hat and frock coat this courageous victorian gentleman made history on Jan. 10. 1863, when he became the world s first subway passenger. A breathless world watched waiting forthe Tunnel roof to collapse or at least a simple , strange As it seemed the roof of the Tunnel did not fall in and there is no re corded Case of passengers being suffocated although the journey Between the two stations was described by Many As a night Mare experience. The carriages were dirty and lit Only by Small Gas jets and Man unlucky travellers were blackened from head to toe by soot from the engine. Of today trains run nearly 300 Miles of Al route and serve 277 stations. During the last War the stations served As bomb shelters. More than 730 million people More than14 times the entire population of Britain use London s underground railways each year. They ride in comfortable modern six to eight car trains. Each car seats from 40 to 45 people and has standing room for Mother 160. In the Peak hours7 . To 10  4 30 pin to 7  intense is the service that trains run at the rate of one a minute la the Central London area. The average time a train spends in each station varies from 20 to 25 seconds. High Speed trains Are not practical be cause of the frequency of the service and the Short distances Between stations but acceleration is high20 Mph is reached in a Quarter of a minute and 40 Mph in about one minute but 20% Mph is the average Speed. A trains operate daily from 4 30 . To j. 1 a no and it is Only during the intervening 3% hours that maintenance of the tracks and signals in the tunnels can be carried out in this Short time Ever Yard of Tunnel is inspected. Methods of entry and exit to and from stations during the Peak hours have Al ways been a problem but the majority of stations Are now equipped with modern fast moving escalators each with Capa City of 10.000 passengers an hour in each direction and a maximum Speed of 180 feet a  eyes Speed them up during Rush hours. The longest escalator is at Leicester Square it rises 80k, feet at other station there Are modern High Speed automatic lifts the deepest of which Hampstead station is 181  an organization involving so Many trains and so Many passengers the Elimina Tion of Accident risks is of the greatest importance. In one Day alone Over 6,000 trains run Over the system but such Arete safety precut talons All of them electrically operated that Only one passenger in420,000 meets with any Accident which is generally a minor one and More often than not the fault of the victim the movement of every train is controlled by several safety precautions but w any one of these Falls the combination of the others is equally effective in preventing accidents. Breakdowns on the system Are rare. Every train travels approximately 6,000miles without a failure causing More than five minutes delay signal faults Are Les than one in every 40,000 train Miles of the Central London stations Piccadilly circus handles the most passengers each week with a total of approximately 600, 000. Oxford circus comes next with a total of 550,000 and King s Cross Liverpool Street and Victoria each average 490,000 people weekly. Rush hour at Piccadilly circus station the busiest of the Centra i London area. It is used by 11 the stars and stripes