Rapid transit
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
A Rapid transit (or Metro(politan), subway, underground, tube, elevated system) is a railway system. Usually it is located in a city or urban area. Trains run very often, and carry a lot of passengers. Usually it is separated from other traffic by a concept called grade separation. Grade separation is when two streams of traffic cross each other on different levels, so they do not influence each other. In England it is called Undergound, in Scotland and North America it is called Subway, in Germany and Austria U-Bahn and in the rest of the world usually Metro.
[change] History
The oldest rapid transit system is the London Underground. Building started in 1860 and the first part of it was opened in 1863. The first underground trains were powered with steam.
The first subway in North America was the subway in Boston. Building started in 1895 and the first section was opened in 1897
The first subway in Asia was the subway in Tokyo.the first section was opened in 1927.
