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Have you ever looked at a Tube map and wondered what whoever built the Underground had against south London?

While there are over 250 stations north of the River Thames there are just 29 to the south.

The disparity is going to be a little less severe, it was announced today, with Transport for London setting out plans for an extension of the Bakerloo line from Elephant and Castle to Lewisham.

The new route would include four new stations, two on the Old Kent Road and others at Lewisham and at New Cross Gate.

It would provide extra capacity on the Tube for 65,000 journeys in the morning and evening peak, with reduced journey times, helping to relieve over-crowding on the trains and buses.

TfL has already announced that it wants the project to be completed by 2028/29.

The Mayor of London's transport body also said it was committed to a second phase of the extension beyond Lewisham.

The proposed route, chosen over others, would go through Peckham and Camberwell.

Last January an extension of the Bakerloo line to East Croydon was ruled out .

Croydon Council had been keen for the line to be extended from Lewisham to Elmers End and then East Croydon.

However, a report said that any "Underground" route making use of existing rail connections would mean a slower service with fewer trains than National Rail services currently provide.

Furthermore, it said a tunnelled route from Elmers End to East Croydon would have a "significant adverse impact on the built and natural environment" because of a lack of suitable areas for construction and tunnelling works.

And this lack of suitable areas for tunnelling was actually part of the reason why, when the earliest Underground lines were built in the 1800s, that the majority of stations were north of the Thames.

The question of why there are so few Underground stations south of the river has been nicely answered on Yahoo Answers .

One contributor explained: "Two reasons. Partly, the geology of the area made tunneling difficult. Partly, because between the wars the then Southern Railway electrified the whole of its suburban system, making tubes unnecessary to some extent."

Another contributor added: "The river caused some problems, the rock another and the fact that there were many overground stations so they were not so needed.

"There was also a desire to not become London suburbs and, even today, people will call the London boroughs in these areas, Kent or Surrey, like the London boroughs of Bromley and Kingston."

A third contributor adds: "There are many more underground rivers and streams on the southern side of the Thames. This would add to the expense of other problems already stated."

A fourth adds: "One of the reasons is the soil compisition of the area south of the Thames. The earth on the north side was a lot easier to tunnel through making it a lot more expensive [south of the Thames].

"When the Underground was being developed 100 years ago the bulk of the population lived north and east of the Thames, it is maybe more balanced now."

And another adds: "It's because the south London area is so densely covered with suburban railway lines, more densely covered than the Underground in north London.

"These days the frequencies on most suburban lines are almost as good as the Underground, and they move much faster than Tube trains."

When a Bakerloo line extension to East Croydon was rejected last year, Croydon Council leader Tony Newman said he wouldn't given up on the idea, adding that the future Westfield development and a rebuilt Fairfield Halls would mean more people than ever from south east London wanting to come to Croydon.

"There's a very strong case for saying that many people, perhaps living in Lewisham or at any point in between Lewisham and Croydon, may want to use new transport infrastructure to come into Croydon because there'll be new retail and cultural attractions," he said.

The Bakeloo line reaching our town, sadly, perhaps is unlikely to ever happen and we will have to make do with the fact that the tram network, since last May , and West Croydon and Norwood Junction, which are part of the London Overground network, are at least on the Tube map.

12 cool things you probably don't know about the London Underground

1: An average of 2.7 million Tube journeys are made on the London Underground every day

2: Only three babies have ever been born in the Tube. The first was in 1924, the second in 2008 and the third in 2009

3: The busiest station is Oxford Circus, which is used by more than 98 million passengers per year

4: The London Underground is the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris

5: The deepest station is Hampstead, 58.5 metres below ground

6: The average speed on the Underground is 33km per hour, including station stops

7: You'll find three Tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street Station, King's Cross and Marylebone

8: The longest single journey on one train is the 54.5km trip between West Ruislip and Epping on the Central Line

9: The record for visiting all the stations on the London Underground network – known as the Tube Challenge – is currently held by Ronan McDonald and Clive Burgess. The pair completed the challenge in 16 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds on 19 February 2015

10: In Harry Potter , Dumbledore has a scar shaped just like the London Underground map on his knee

11: In cockney rhyming slang, the London Underground is known as the Oxo (Cube/Tube)

12: There are only two Tube station names that contain all five vowels – "Mansion House" and "South Ealing"