Comment by masklinn
1 day ago
> in New York and Chicago, Paris and Berlin, Tokyo and Beijing, people are being whisked through a network of tunnels, deep below the bustling city.
Paris’ RER is a mostly aboveground suburban rail network, it’s only underground when it reaches the city center. And it’s far from unique, that’s a common feature of commuter rail.
And while the metro is mostly underground, about 20km (out of 245) is aboveground.
Tokyo also have a vast network of "overground" trains: the JR lines (Yamanote, Chuo), but also Keio, Odakyu, Tobu... And that's not just commuter lines, the JR lines go through the city center.
Honestly did the author visit any of the cities she's talking about? I don't see what's special about London here.
Yes, building underground is vastly more expensive than surface or even elevated lines. You only do it when above-ground space is prohibitively limited like in a major urban center.