Central line

The Central line is a deep-level London Underground route printed in red on the Tube map. It runs 46 miles between West Ruislip or Ealing Broadway in the west and Epping or Woodford via Hainault in the north-east. The line crosses the City and the East End, passing through 49 stations. It is one of only two lines that leave Greater London, sharing this with the Metropolitan line. Trains are smaller than those on main lines because they travel through narrow tunnels bored with a diameter of about 3.5 metres. The line opened in 1900 as the Central London Railway, running east–west along Oxford Street to the City. In the 1930s plans aimed to extend it into new suburbs, but work paused during the Second World War when tunnels became air-raid shelters and factories. Growth was limited by the Metropolitan Green Belt, cutting short a planned route to Denham and closing Ongar in 1994. The line now carries over 300 million passenger journeys a year and runs up to 34 trains per hour at peak times. Many stations show historic styles, from early 20th-century buildings in west London to post-war modernist designs on branches to West Ruislip and Hainault. East of Stratford the line passes former Victorian rural branch-line stations. The Elizabeth line now interchanges with the Central line at five central points, easing crowding on this third busiest Underground route.