Subway/Metro

Today I was thinking about subway systems around the world. Here is just a little information about them. The term subway or underground generally means a transportation system that is underground but many subways or metro systems have at least a portion of their system above ground or in the case of Chicago a majority of the system is above ground and is actually on elevated tracks which give it the name of the El or L for elevated trains as seen below.

The two longest systems in the world are also two of the oldest, the London Underground and the New York Subway, which opened in 1863 and 1870 respectively. This is a picture of the rounded tunnels that give the London Underground its nickname "The Tube."

The three busiest metro systems in the world are Tokyo, Moscow and Seoul each with more than 2 billion rides per year. The busiest subway systems I have been on are Hong Kong (#8), London (#10) and Cairo (#14). Here is a picture of one of the ornate stations in the Moscow Metro.