What is a subway?

Have you ever ridden on a subway?? Subways are special kinds of trains that are usually built underground and are often found in big cities. Subways are typically made up of multiple train lines that start and end in different places, and sometimes intersect each other in between, allowing passengers to get from one place to another. By operating underground, they help large numbers of people to get around easily, since they still allow space for people to walk, drive, and take busses up on the street. 

The world’s first subway system was built in London in the mid-1800s (about 150 years ago). Many other big cities from around the world then followed! Today, the subway system with the most riders is in Tokyo, followed by Moscow, Seoul, and New York City – all with over one and a half billion riders every year! 

In some places, subways are also often known as an underground, tube, or metro! 

Of all the subway systems in the world, New York City’s is the largest! With originally just 28 stations, the first parts of this now-giant system opened about 100 years ago on October 27, 1904. As of 2010, the New York City subway system now has 468 stations – more than 16 times as many stations as it did when it first opened! If you were to lay out the tracks of New York City’s subway from end-to-end, they would stretch all the way from New York to Chicago!

Have you ever ridden on the subway in New York? What about in another city? What do you remember the most about it??