So, there are few things I wanted to say about the Tube.

Last Sunday, we paid a visit to disused parts of Euston Station. The visit itself was shorter than I would have liked, but the accompanying info was very interesting.

I have a theory which basically says that the metro / Tube / underground / subway is a true reflection of the life in a city. It is a condensed reality if you will, a mirror of social stratification, and so on, and so on. So I made a conclusion. But to explain, I have to first explain a bit about another city with an underground transport system of comparable complexity: Paris.

I have been to Paris few times, and I quite liked the Paris Métro. It was a bit like love at the first sight. I admire the system, I like the aesthetics of the stations, I like the concept - that it's quite obvious that the system is well planned, that someone was thinking when designing the lines.

Afaik in Paris, there are four abandoned stations, and one was shifted few hundred meters away and joined with another station. Another two or three were just shifted, and two or three were repurposed as training stations or depots. There are also two stations that never opened, and two stations which have not even been properly built.

Then you see the original planning: there are lines in all expected directions. One goes north-west to south-east, two go around (one making a northern arch, one making a southern arch), one goes north-east to south-west, and so on. All screams 'planning'. All tells you 'this is what we wanted'. 'We made this on purpose.'

Last Sunday, I discovered the consequences of the fact that in London, the careful planning just didn't happen. What happened was quite the opposite: the Tube lines were dug apparently randomly (in fact it was a wild competition and no regulation thing). Result: about 60 abandoned stations, including at least one whole line - which is still there, with tunnels and everything, it's just not used. During history, stations in London appeared and disappeared, track was installed, moved and removed, lines were shifted, blended, renamed and cancelled, all seemingly randomly.

Do you see careful diagonal, circular, north-to-south etc. lines in London? Do you see planning which would allow you to close down only few stations, do you see someone actually thinking and trying to create something big, a functional system?

Nope.

In London, things just happen randomly, without planning. There's nothing which would make the system anything else than a random network of random stations and lines, with poor / funny connections, with stations appearing and disappearing, with no easy, reliable and intelligent way of getting from one place to another.

We got chaos instead. Bakerloo was much longer but for some reason was split into two, and part of it became Overground. East London line, of few stations, became Overground as well (Overground which runs underground on substantial part of its length). Northern started as three different lines. Some lines were built with smaller (narrower) tunnels which had to be later widened, or have to use small trains. Jubilee Line started as Fleet Line, and was later renamed (and the grey was made lighter) - which allegedly cost millions of pounds. Entire line was almost built and later abandoned. And so on, and so on.

So, my conclusion. The national stereotype may say that the French are disorganized and messy, while the British are accurate and organized. This is bollocks. Just look at Métro and compare it to the Tube.
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Side notes:

If anyone is interested in Paris Métro:
- The four abandoned stations are Croix Rouge, St Martin, Champs de Mars and Arsenal. They are still there, underground, faded but existing.
- The shifted station is Martin Nadaud, which is now 'blended into' Gambetta. Gambetta has exceptionally long platform for this reason. :)
- The unopened stations (which have no access other than track, no stairs or exit) are Porte de Molitor and Haxo.
- The not even built stations are La Défense - Michelet and Élysées La Défense. These two were originally planned, then a concrete box was put underground, and then the cost proved so high that the plans were abandoned, and instead of these, we got the RER A stations.
- For more info, start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_stations_of_the_Paris_M%C3%A9tro

This site is awesome: http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/
This is also good: http://carto.metro.free.fr/cartes/metro-london/

(Next time I travel by Piccadilly Line I will be looking for York Road. (I always wondered why the travel time between King's X and Caledonian Road is twice as long as between any other two stations. Now I know.) Next time I travel Northern, I will be looking for City Road. And so on.)