Waterloo & City Line

Waterloo & City Line

The Waterloo & City line (unofficially known as the Drain) is a short underground railway line in London, opened on 11 July 1898. It has only two stations, Waterloo and Bank (the latter formerly called "City", as it is within the City of London) and as such is the least used line on network with around 15,000,000 passengers annually. The line passes under the River Thames.

It exists almost exclusively to serve commuters to the City of London travelling from the South West of England via Waterloo mainline station, and does not operate late in the evening or on Sundays (the only occasions the line has operated on Sundays was between 1943 and 1947 and during the London 2012 Olympic Games). By far the shortest line on the London Underground, at 2.37 km (1.47 miles), it takes only four minutes to travel from end to end. It was the second electric tube railway to open in London, after the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern line). Despite its age, it was only recently incorporated into the London Underground network, being transferred from British Rail ownership, in 1994.