U

Ulster Transport Authority

Formed in 1948 and the following year took over the nationalised Northern Ireland Road Transport Board, the main bus operator in the province (at that time Belfast Corporation was the only other bus and tram operator), the Northern Counties Committee (see Belfast & Northern Counties Railway) and the Belfast & County Down Railway. In effect it was a small scale version of the British Transport Commission, from whom it received the NCC. It took over the Northern Ireland operations of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland in 1953. It later acquired the bus services of Belfast Corporation.

In 1966, its railway operations passed to Ulster Transport Railways, which became Northern Ireland Railways in 1967.

Underground Electric Railways

Formed by the American C T Yerkes to acquire the Metropolitan District Railway in 1902, Underground Electric Railways converted the MDR to electric traction, providing power from its Lots Road, Chelsea, power station and acquired the Bakerloo, Hampstead and Piccadilly Lines, still under construction. Although regarded by suspicion as profiteers at first, not least because statutory undertakings (ie. railways, authorised by Parliament) were being controlled by a non-statutory company, the company bought in a strong American management team that ensured efficiency and standardisation on its lines, with its third and fourth rail dc current supply becoming the standard for London that continues to this day. It also introduced multiple unit trains, lifts and escalators, and automatic signalling. The term ‘Underground’ became synonymous with the London network, especially after the other companies outside the UER group agreed to adopt the term for station signs and network maps.

The group expanded into buses, using the term ‘Overground’ for those which connected with the underground trains, but had also in 1912 acquired the capital’s largest bus operator, the London General Omnibus Company, which also operated trams and trolleybuses, but was often referred to by its competitors as the ‘Combine’. Its interests were all taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.