 There had been plans to connect Waterloo to the West End via an underground railway since the 1860s.The Waterloo & Whitehall Railway began construction of a line towards Whitehall, but it was abandoned in 1868 because of financial difficulties.The first underground line to be opened at Waterloo was the Waterloo & City Railway to Bank, colloquially known as "The Drain" owing to its access via a sloping subway at the Bank end.