History of the London Underground line stations saw their last goods train in the same year. The closure of West Kensington yard the following year meant the withdrawal of goods trains from District and Piccadilly tracks. On the Central line, Hainault loop stations lost their goods service in 1965, and in 1966 the rest of the line followed. London transit: Other subway histories: History of the London Underground The history of the London Underground began in the 19th century with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. The Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam
London Underground infrastructure were originally maple wood, then aluminium from 1963, and this had been replaced with plastic or rubber following an increase in serious injuries following falls. However, following the King's Cross fire, aluminium treads have been used. There are 426 escalators on the London Underground system and the longest, at , is at Angel. The shortest, at Stratford, gives a vertical rise of . There are 184 lifts across the Underground, with 72 stations having step-free access from street to train. Major efforts have taken place to improve accessibility across the Underground, with the Jubilee line extension having lifts from opening