Digging a hole under the city and putting a railroad in it seemed the stuff of dreams.

在城市底下挖個洞並將軌道放進去聽起來像是白日夢。

Pub drinkers scoffed at the idea and a local minister accused the railway company of trying to break into hell.

酒館裡的酒客都嘲笑這個想法；當地一位官員甚至指控地鐵公司試圖開啟地獄之門。

Most people simply thought the project, which cost more than 100 million dollars in today's money, would never work.

大部分的人都覺得這項計畫—以今日價值來看耗資超過一億—是不可能實現的。

But it did.

但是它成功了。

On January 10, 1863, 30,000 people ventured underground to travel on the world's first subway on a four-mile stretch of line in London.

1863 年 1 月 10 日，三萬個民眾在世界上第一座地鐵展開冒險，當時倫敦鐵道長達四哩。

After three years of construction and a few setbacks, the Metropolitan Railway was ready for business.

經過三年的建設和一些挫折後，都市鐵道系統準備好正式營運。

The city's officials were much relieved.

城市官員都鬆了口氣。

They'd been desperate to find a way to reduce the terrible congestion on the roads.

他們先前恨不得快點找到解決交通堵塞的方法。

London, at the time the world's largest and most prosperous city, was in a permanent state of gridlock, with carts, costermongers, cows, and commuters jamming the roads.

當時倫敦身為全世界最繁榮的大都市，長期飽受交通雍塞之苦，馬車、蔬果小販、牛車和通勤族都塞在路上。

It'd been a Victorian visionary, Charles Pearson, who first thought of putting railways under the ground.

Charles Pearson 是維多利亞時代第一個想到將鐵道放到地底下的前瞻者。

He'd lobbied for underground trains throughout the 1840s, but opponents thought the idea was impractical since the railroads at the time only had short tunnels under hills.

1840 年代他大力鼓吹地底鐵道系統，但反對者認為這是個不切實際的想法，因為當時的鐵路在山丘下只建有很短的隧道。

How could you get a railway through the center of a city?

你要如何把整個鐵道放到市中心地底呢？

The answer was a simple system called "cut and cover."

答案是一個稱做「明挖回填式」的簡單方法。

Workers had to dig a huge trench, construct a tunnel out of brick archways, and then refill the hole over the newly built tunnel.

工人要挖一個很大的溝渠，用磚塊建造一個拱形的隧道，再重新填平新建隧道的溝渠。

Because this was disruptive and required the demolition of buildings above the tunnels, most of the line went under existing roads.

因為這個方法是破壞性的，而且隧道上方的建築物也會遭到破壞，大部分的鐵道路線都建在馬路下方。

Of course, there were accidents.

當然，還是有意外發生。

On one occasion, a heavy rainstorm flooded the nearby sewers and burst through the excavation, delaying the project by several months.

有一次傾盆大雨淹到附近下水道，衝破開鑿中的地穴，使得這項計畫延遲了好幾個月。

But as soon as the Metropolitan Railway opened, Londoners rushed in to ride the new trains.

但當地鐵系統一開始營運，倫敦人就搶搭新型火車。

The Metropolitan quickly became a vital part of London's transport system.

地鐵很快變成倫敦交通中重要的一部分。

Additional lines were soon built, and new suburbs grew around the stations.

隨著更多的路線興建，車站旁的市郊隨之發展。

Big department stores opened next to the railroad, and the railway company even created attractions, like a 30-story Ferris wheel in Earls Court to bring in tourists by train.

大型百貨公司都開在地鐵旁；鐵路公司甚至創造出新景點，像是位於倫敦伯爵宮、30 層樓高的摩天輪就是倚賴地鐵帶來的觀光人潮。

Within 30 years, London's subway system covered 80 kilometers, with lines in the center of town running in tunnels, and suburban trains operating on the surface, often on embankments.

30 年內倫敦地鐵範圍達 80 公里，包括市中心下的隧道，以及在市郊陸地上、路堤上營運的鐵路。

But London was still growing, and everyone wanted to be connected to the system.

但倫敦市區還在擴大，每個地方都想與地鐵相通。

By the late 1880s, the city had become too dense with buildings, sewers, and electric cables for the "cut and cover" technique, so a new system had to be devised.

到了 1880 年代晚期，城市的建築、下水道和管線密集度對於要實施「明挖回填式」實在太高了，所以必須建一個新的系統。

Using a machine called the Greathead Shield, a team of just 12 workers could bore through the earth, carving deep underground tunnels through the London clay.

他們使用一種稱做「潛盾隧道」的機械，只要一組 12 個工人便可以探鑽，在倫敦土地下挖掘更深的隧道。

These new lines, called tubes, were at varying depths, but usually about 25 meters deeper than the "cut and cover" lines.

這些稱作「管道」的新路線深度各不相同，但通常會比採「明挖回填式」的隧道還深 25 公尺左右。

This meant their construction didn't disturb the surface, and it was possible to dig under buildings.

因此這種建造方法不會破壞到路面，而且可以在建築下進行挖掘。

The first tube line, the City and South London, opened in 1890 and proved so successful that half a dozen more lines were built in the next 20 years.

第一條路線是「城市及南倫敦鐵路」於1890 年開放且相當成功，在接下來 20 年內又另外興建了超過六條的路線。

This clever new technology was even used to burrow several lines under London's river, the Thames.

這項聰明的新科技也被運用在倫敦泰晤士河下的地鐵路線興建。

By the early 20th century, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, and New York had all built subways of their own.

20 世紀初，布達佩斯、柏林、巴黎、紐約的地鐵系統也都完工。

And today, with more than 160 cities in 55 countries using underground rails to combat congestion.

在今日，有超過 55 個國家、160 個城市都運用地鐵來紓解交通。

We can thank Charles Pearson and the Metropolitan Railway for getting us started on the right track.

這都要感謝 Charles Pearson 和都市地鐵系統，讓我們採取正確有效的做法。