Why do no other metro system (that I can think of in the world) other than Glasgow and London use ‘Tube’ trains?

[Mikey C]

I didn't say that there was any appetite. It would be a colossal waste of money to rebore the tube lines. What I was saying is that the Victoria line stations were built too small (in terms of corridors, platform sizes, entrances/exits) to cope with the amount of passengers they have today.

Oxford Circus is horribly cramped. It takes an eternity to leave the platforms, so that often the next train is arriving when the passengers from the previous train are still exiting.

 

[Strathclyder]

I'm not sure what the geology was in Glasgow but the other circumstances were similar, and they went even smaller with narrow gauge.

Consulting my copy of the excellent Circles Under The Clyde book (outdated yes, but still chock-full of top notch detail, images and information about the system's conception, construction and operation up to late 1996), was a real mixed bag as you'd expect: solid rock, shale, clay, conglomerate, sand, mud etc, which presented numerous challenges which needed novel engineering solutions to overcome them.

 

[edwin_m]

The fact that no new tube lines have been built, and that none have been re-bored in nearly a century, confirms that. Which is why I reckon that after the mooted Bakerloo and Northern line extensions, I don't think we'd ever see any new track mileage at Tube gauge added to the network, or indeed probably anywhere in the world.

About 10 years ago I was involved in one of the periodic re-visits of the Chelsea-Hackney line. The alternatives on the table at that time were what became Crossrail 2, or a self-contained option which was to similar standards to the DLR with longer driverless trains instead of being a traditional Tube line. So I think that would be TfL's thinking if a totally new line was ever in prospect, but I think it's more likely that they would look at another Crossrail, providing through journeys to the suburbs and reducing the number of trains and passengers using London termini.

 

[Irascible]

Oxford Circus is horribly cramped. It takes an eternity to leave the platforms, so that often the next train is arriving when the passengers from the previous train are still exiting.

In all the years I lived there, I think I only ever really used Oxford Circus to change from the Vic to the Bakerloo when I was going to/from Paddington. It is definitely not great, but I'd be surprised if there was much room to expand it.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Budapest metro actually dates from 1896 - the bit forms line M1 albeit in a reconstructed state.

I doubt that in 1896 /that/ line was conceived as a bomb shelter, given that the bombs in question would have been dropped from aircraft, and Messrs. O. & W. Wright had yet to take off (1903).

Wouldn't give much protection from anything much more than a modest cannon ball, I suspect. Although I suppose the stations would protect from bomb/shell fragments flying around in WW2.

Perhaps I should have written "built in the Communist era" - but I thought the Yellow Line was obviously not relevant in this case.

But yes the dual purposes probably does serve elsewhere 1950s onwards new build ost bloc metros.

Yup. See above.