Central line (London Underground) Hammersmith (Grove Road) railway station. Authorisation was granted in 1920, but the connection was never built, and the L&SWR tracks were used by the Piccadilly line when it was extended west of Hammersmith in 1932. On 1 July 1933, the Central London Railway and other transport companies in the London area were amalgamated to form the London Passenger Transport Board, generally known as London Transport. The railway was known as the "Central London Line", becoming the "Central line" in 1937. The 1935–40 New Works Programme included a major expansion of the line. To the west new tracks were to be
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