Circle line (London Underground) the stations are shared with one or more of the three other sub-surface lines, namely the District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines combined, over 114 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2011/12. The first section became operational in 1863 when the Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground line between Paddington and with wooden carriages and steam locomotives. The same year a select committee report recommended an "inner circle" of lines connecting the London railway termini, and the Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway) was formed to build
London Underground infrastructure Tube Programme, investigating replacing the trains for the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines, is looking for trains with better energy conservation and regenerative braking. The Underground serves 270 stations. Fourteen Underground stations are outside Greater London, of which five (Amersham, Chalfont & Latimer, Chesham, and Chorleywood on the Metropolitan line and Epping on the Central line) are beyond the M25 London orbital motorway. The longest distance between two stations is between Chalfont & Latimer and Chesham on the Metropolitan line. The shortest distance between adjacent stations is the between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line. The station furthest