Features You Don’t See on Subways Anymore

Subways feel very standardized around the world, but when you look at old subways, as we do in today's video - you realize the subways we see today were by no means a guarantee. Enjoy!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[JagoHazzard]

I visited Budapest many years ago and the friend I was with told me, "You'll love the Budapest subway, it's like toy trains."

[TechAltar]

Your channel has given me such an increased appreciation for transit systems across the world and all the little quirks I probably would have missed before. Now when I move around in my home cities of Budapest and Berlin or when I get to travel to a new city I can't help but notice all the patterns and structures I've heard you and other urbanist talk about regularly. It's such a pleasure, so thanks for all the content!

[AtomcsiKK]

I wasn't expecting you to pronounce Budapest's name correctly, but you did. I appreciate it.
The oldest, "Millenar Underground" line of Budapest, now rebranded as metro line M1, was originally planned as a regular tram line on street level, but it didn't get permission because it would have ruined the image of the avenue, especially the poles and the overhead power lines. So the railway company asked the authorities (massively paraphrasing): "What if we built the whole thing underground? That way no ugly stuff would be on street level." To which the authorities said: "Yeah, that could work." So they basically built an underground tram line, with cut-and-cover technology, which uses the same 600V DC power supply that trams do.
The tunnel is so low because it crosses *over* the main canal located under a crossroad (the grand boulevard), while still fully underground. The space between the ceiling of the canal tunnel and the surface was all they could work with.
Making old stations accessible is hard, but not impossible. The soviet-type line M3 was recently made fully accessible, the deep level stations having incline elevators installed in the escalator shafts. Ironically, making the subsurface line M1 accessible is harder, because it is now part of World Heritage.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Something else you don't really see anymore is when metro systems are designed not just as metro systems but also museums. The Moscow Metro is a big example of this. Under Stalin, stations were designed in the style of socialist classicism and were meant as underground "palaces of the people", with marble walls, high ceilings, stained glass, mosaics and chandeliers. It makes transit look more appealing and motivates even more people to give trains a chance. The Pyongyang Metro is also like this, with chandeliers and patriotic murals that inspire its users to keep moving forward and never give up. Something else the Moscow and Pyongyang Metros have in common is how deep they are, with the Pyongyang one doubling as a bomb shelter.

Another example is the Tashkent Metro which first opened in 1977. It's not just transit, it's transit that tells a story. It took until 2018 for them to lift the photography ban and allow tourists to take as many pictures as their hearts desire. Sure, it was inspired by Moscow, but it's more than that. They all have their own unique architectural features and artistic elements. Some look like ballrooms with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling while others look like a film set from a science fiction movie. Walking through it is like walking through the city's history. Every station shows a part of Uzbek history, and they all tell a story from the Silk Road to the empires that once ruled over it.

[MarioFanGamer]

Another point to note is that few early metros were purposely build that way and instead used existing infrastructures (this still is done so today but on a lesser scale).
The London Underground, New York Subway (or rather, NY Elevated) and Chicago 'L' all started out as mainline extensions, hosted stuff like freight trains and had (or in case of Chicago, still has) grade crossings and London's, thanks to its branching nature of the individual lines and relatively high stop distances for a system its time, also has been compared to what would be an S-Bahn (originally 2nd generation like Munich, nowadays 1st gen like Berlin and Hamburg) or RER today.
Other metros developed out of trams like Budapest M1 (at least it was heavily inspired by them even though it was grade separated from the start) and Boston has the Tremont Street subway i.e. the first subway on American ground... which hosted streetcars (making Boston the first city with a premetro) and similar tunnels were taken over by the Orange and Blue Lines (the Green Line too but its streetcar nature is very obvious there).

Modern systems also take over existing infra but not to the extend as the aforementioned systems I feel like.

[ollum]

The city I live in, Tampere in Finland built a new tram just a couple years ago and it has completely changed the city center for the better. Before the tram busses used to line the main street as far as eye could see but now the city center is the healthiest in the country. I think the city is too small for this channel as we just passed 250k residents but I just wanted to share this. The tram has been massively successful with over 80% approval rating and it has effected the public opinion for trams a lot for the whole country. Neighbouring towns are very interested in getting a tram connection of their own and a couple of lines/line extensions are being built and planned. In my opinion the most exiting part is that there is a regional train pilot program being tested and a plan for improving it massively. Tampere already is the fastest growing city in Finland and a good regional train service could supercharge the population growth. Thanks to this channel for making me see what might happen in the near future near me!

[JakeRoot]

One big thing I’ve noticed is cities settling for lesser systems. For example, Seattle’s Link system is substantially pared down from the original Forward Thrust plan, which would have certainly seen faster trains operating entirely on grade separated track, probably with third rail power.

[marcelwiszowaty]

You mentioned the Glasgow Subway and in fact it has a most unusual track gauge... 4ft. As a result (and because of the small loading gauge) the trains themselves cannot be an off-the-shelf design. Still waiting for the new Stadler trains to begin passenger-carrying service, even though the first units were delivered over a year ago.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

I just love how cute the Glasgow Subway is because of its track running gauge, on top of the fact the Glasgow Subway is the third-oldest underground rail transit system in Europe. It's definitely a unique system, not to mention the neat livery! The system even has a nominal tunnel diameter of 11 ft (3.4 m), which is even smaller than that of the deep-level lines of the London Underground which are 3.56 m at their smallest. It originally began as a cable railway, powered by a clutch-and-cable system, with one cable for each direction. However, most trains were electrified in 1935, and between from March of 1935 and December, it had an interesting operation where clockwise trains were cable-hauled while counterclockwise trains were electric!

The subway's running lines are entirely underground, but the maintenance depot is above ground! Prior to it being modernized, trains used to be lifted by crane onto and off the tracks just like the Waterloo & City Line trains! Modernization brought the installation of points and an access ramp between Govan and Ibrox where trains can exit the tunnel system to terminate for maintenance and repairs, cleaning or storage. And if having a cute loop wasn't enough, there was once plans to add ANOTHER loop for the East End to aid regeneration as part of the city's 2014 Commonwealth Games bid.

[mrguysnailz]

All metro systems in Portugal meanwhile are standard gauge, despite the entirety of the heavy rail network being in 1668 mm gauge. One exception would be the currently inoperational Mirandela metro, a short section of the derelict narrow gauge Tua line.

[roberthuron]

Reece, you constantly overlooked Boston, as it was the 3rd subway, built in 1894! Now, the Green Line, its still going strong! And yes, there are turning loops, at Park Street, and Haymarket, still in place! Plus they are putting in, a new[old] line to Medford! History repeats! Thank you for your attention ☺️! Thank you 😇 😊!

[sonicboy]

The bit about turning loops reminded me of Cities in Motion 2.

[Fanw]

The Lausanne metro line M2, opened in 2008, is a rare case IN EUROPE of a NEW rubber-tyred metro. But remember that Lausanne is French-speaking, and the M2 incorporates a section of line with a 10% gradient which used to be rack-and-pinion and before that a funicular!

[AFCManUk]

That opening shot of Farringdon...
Next to Baker Street, it's probably one of my most visited Tube stations in London...and I have no idea why!

[ravenmusic]

1:32 What is your opinion on 3rd rail vs overhead for powering metros? Great video as always!

[markvogel]

Safety! That's a feature at least in the US we don't really see anymore.

[AaronSmith-sxez]

Not all modern changes have been good! Many modern train stations aren't very walkable. An old NY City station might take 30 seconds to go from surface to train...but many new stations can take 5-10 minutes...sometimes more of just walking through the stations (not counting round trips or transfers). You can sometimes get pretty far in an Uber for 10 minutes, so metro stations to be competitive should be more compact and walkable. Very sad that modern transit planners (especially in China) don't factor walk times into their designs.

[achelp]

Here in the Netherlands we also apply standard gauge to both trains, trams and metro lines, allowing interfacing between all 3 systems if needed.

[nelsn]

2:10 weird seeing an ad for Chicago on the London Underground

[scottdawson]

…and I thought you were going to mention the old Paris metro cars whose doors had to be manually unlatched! I saw them in 2000 when travelling across Europe.

It took a little getting used to, but by watching other people I figured out what to do. As the train was coming to a stop, someone would trip the latch and the door would spring open. Afterwards, when people had exited and entered the car, there would be a chime and the door would slowly and automatically close.

Never knew the reasoning behind this, but it was quirky and cool.