Underground Electric Railways Company of London Its early success resulted in a rush of proposals to Parliament for other deep-level routes under the capital, but by 1901 only two more lines had opened: the Waterloo & City Railway (W&CR) in 1898 and the Central London Railway (CLR) in 1900. Construction had started on one other line and then stopped following a financial crisis. The rest of the companies were struggling to raise funding. The District Railway (DR) was a sub-surface underground railway which had opened in 1868. Its steam-hauled services operated around the "Inner Circle" and on branches to Hounslow, Wimbledon, Richmond, Ealing, Whitechapel and New
History of the London Underground half of the 19th century, London had grown greatly and the development of a commuting population arriving by train each day led to traffic congestion with carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads. By 1850 there were seven railway termini located around the urban centre of London and the concept of an underground railway linking the City of London with these stations was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City of London, was a leading promoter of several schemes, and he contributed to the creation of the City Terminus Company to build such a railway from