The great era of metro railways is just starting

ON A WINTER'S morning in 1863, a revolution in urban living began.

- David Fickling Bloomberg

A group of dignitaries boarded a train in Paddington on the growing northwestern fringes of London, and traveled by tunnel six stops to Farringdon, just north of the old heart of the city.

The Metropolitan Railway, which you can still ride today as part of the London Underground, was the first to put regular trains on dedicated tracks, cutting through the gridlock that would otherwise plague modern cities. Over the years, networks sprouted in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Moscow, Hong Kong, Cairo, and elsewhere. By 2013, they encompassed more than 130 cities, stretching 10,922 kilometers (6,787 miles) — sufficient to get you from the equator to the North Pole.

What's most remarkable is what has happened since. Far from slowing down, we've added almost as much track in the past 10 years as was built in the previous 150, hitting 20,453 km in 2023, according to new figures from the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). The great era of metro railways is only just dawning.