 Despite concerns about vibrations causing subsidence of nearby buildings , the problems of compensating the many thousands of people whose homes were destroyed during the digging of the tunnel , and fears that the tunnelling might accidentally break through into Hell , construction began in 1860 . The new railway was built beneath the existing New Road , running from the Great Western Railway 's terminus at Paddington to Farringdon and the meat market of Smithfield . On 9 January 1863 the line opened as the Metropolitan Railway ( MR ) , the world 's first underground passenger railway . The MR was successful and grew steadily , extending its own services and acquiring other local railways in the areas north and west of London . 
