Rapid transit in the United Kingdom consists of four systems: the London Underground and the Docklands Light Railway in London; the Tyne and Wear Metro in Tyne and Wear; and the Glasgow Subway. The term may also include commuter rail systems with aspects of rapid transit such as the London Overground and Elizabeth line in London, and Merseyrail in the Liverpool City Region. Rapid transit has also been proposed in other UK cities including Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, and Cambridge.
The United Kingdom is the birthplace of rapid transit, with London and Liverpool hosting the world's first and second urban rail transit and Glasgow the fourth. From 1893 to 1956, the Liverpool Overhead Railway was the only elevated rapid transit in the country, however fell into disuse being demolished in 1957. In the 20th and 21st century, the United Kingdom has chosen to not prioritise investment in rapid transit schemes; instead cities like Manchester, Sheffield, and Edinburgh have opted for trams.
| City | System | Start of operations | System length | Lines | Stations | Voltage | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | London Underground | 10 January 1863 | 402 km | 11 | 272 | 630 V DC fourth rail | The oldest rapid transit system, incorporating the world's first underground railway. | |
| London | Docklands Light Railway | 31 August 1987 | 34 km | 7 (routes) | 45 | 750 V DC third rail | An automated light metro system opened in 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London. | |
| Tyne and Wear | Tyne and Wear Metro | 11 August 1980 | 74.5 km | 2 | 60 | 1500 V DC OLE | A rapid transit and light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland in the Tyne and Wear region. | |
| Glasgow | Glasgow Subway | 14 December 1896 | 10.5 km | 1 | 15 | 600 V DC third rail | An underground light metro line in Glasgow. It is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro, and the only underground metro system in the British Isles outside England. |
| City | System | Start of operations | System length | Lines | Stations | Voltage | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | London Overground | 11 November 2007 | 123.6 km (official lines) | 8 | 112 | third-rail 750 V DC and 25 kV 50 Hz AC (overhead line) | A suburban rail network in the United Kingdom, serving a large part of Greater London and parts of Hertfordshire. Contains the East London line, a former London Underground line. | |
| London | Elizabeth line | 24 May 2022 | 136 km | 1 | 41 | 25 kV 50 Hz AC (Overhead line) | A railway line in London and its environs constructed under the Crossrail project, providing a new east-west route across Greater London. It provides a high-frequency commuter/suburban passenger service linking parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, via central London, to Essex and South East London, relieving the pressure on other railway services. | |
| Liverpool | Merseyrail | 1886 (Mersey Railway) | 121 km (official lines) | 2 official (and one unofficial line) | 68 | third-rail 750 V DC | A commuter rail network, in the Liverpool City Region, England. The network has 68 stations running on 75 miles of route, of which 6.5 miles are underground, forming one of the most heavily used railway networks in the UK outside London. |