Of all the transport modes we have covered on London Reconnections, we have rarely hitherto covered the first principle of movement – walking (in which we include personal mobility assistive devices and rideables). Here we look at the world of ‘High Lines’ and their current status within the capital.
In 1991 London published a green strategy that recommended developing and establishing walking and cycling networks in the city. This slowly developed in the background as many other, higher profile transport schemes were mused, discussed and debated.
Part of the reason for the near-invisibility of such walking plans is that responsibility for the pedestrian environment is spread over government departments, London boroughs, railway stations and private property. As a result, there is no single entity in charge of overseeing, directing or protecting the pedestrian realm. The rules and regulations of pedestrian byways have been codified into bylaws, building codes, highway acts and more. Much like the British ‘constitution’, there is no single act of law, simply a collection of individual statute clauses built up over the centuries.
There has been no overall walking or pedestrian initiative, strategy or agency policy for improving walking in London, just individual initiatives like the National Trail’s Thames Path and individual borough policies. Unfortunately, Thames Path access is being restricted by numerous riverside property owners.
As with train operating companies, this at times leads to a lack of joined up thinking to improve the pedestrian environment. As a result, the pedestrian experience is often haphazard and disjointed, shunted aside for private developments or higher forms of transport and squeezed into whatever leftover space remains.
We are all pedestrians. Human movement brings us to school and work, family and entertainment, and back again. We may use mechanised transport in between, but most of us start and end our journeys on our feet or using personal mobility devices.
London is not the only city that has traditionally struggled to deliver large-scale projects aimed at pedestrians. One of the concepts that has emerged elsewhere with some success, however, is that of the ‘High Line’. A High Line is generally understood to be a route that is traffic free, ideally elevated and not broken up by road or railway crossings. It is a route which is not designed to be a commuter link or an otherwise ‘fast’ route, so there are no opportunities for cycling at speed along it. It is a route which allows people to see a densely populated part of a city in a new way, the novelty and theatre of the route created by maximising the contrast between the mean, traffic-choked city streets below and soaring buildings above and the green oasis of the route itself.
The New York High Line
New York’s High Line is the abandoned elevated railway line in inner New York City that has become a pleasant linear park, major tourist attraction and urban regeneration stimulus in a brick-warehouses-and-cyclists part of Manhattan. Gliding peacefully above the busy traffic, moving through buildings and alongside wild flowers, the experience is rather surreal and, on experiencing it, it’s easy to see why it’s been such a big hit.
New York High Line, before the crowds arrive
Since the first segment opened in 2009, it has generated much civic interest and stimulated the adjoining neighbourhoods’ economies. Unsurprisingly, a number of other cities have taken notice and sprouted similar plans for their own High Lines. It is a win-win in most cases – converting a derelict eyesore into a community amenity and a draw for locals and tourists alike. Several similar projects have opened in Chicago (The 606), Seoul (Seoul Station Park), Rotterdam (Luchtsingel), and more are under construction in Washington DC (11th Street Bridge Park on a disused highway bridge), San Francisco (Transbay Transit Centre Park) and Philadelphia (Rail Park).
Others are in fundraising mode – Brooklyn (The Lowline, in an unused underground tram terminal), Miami (The Underline, under the elevated Metrorail structure) and Hollywood (covering part of a freeway), whilst more are planned for Sydney, Rome, Paris and yes, Seoul again, which has demolished 15 elevated highways since 2002.
A year ago, the New York High Line Trust informally started the High Line Network in 2017 as a forum for cities around the world to share experiences on implementing similar parks, as well as to help each other mitigate some of the negative effects such as gentrification. The 19 North American projects that comprise this network have now gone public to share infrastructural reuse information, news and success stories on their network.thehighline.org website.
An honorary mention should also be made of Paris’s Promenade Plantée, or the Coulée verte René-Dumont to give it its official name, which shares many similarities with the High Line and indeed substantially predates it, having been opened in 1993. The western half is raised above the streets, although this being Paris, the feel is very different to New York’s -with views across tree-lined boulevards and classical Parisian architecture, before descending into a large and rather bleak looking municipal housing estate and thereon into tunnels.
High lines in London
London has been looking for its own High Line for a few years now. One problem with creating a High Line in London, though, is that there never were many abandoned elevated railways in the city. The capital largely escaped the rail network rationalisation of the 1960s when many rural and other little-used lines across the country were closed. After these cuts, laws were changed to make the closing of railway lines much harder to achieve so, even when railway usage reached its nadir in the 1980s, few additional lines were closed. Since then, ridership has soared, particularly in and around London, and there is virtually no prospect of any existing lines being closed in the foreseeable future. Indeed the winning entry in the 2012 London High Line competition was an underground mushroom garden walk in disused Mail Rail tunnels. Not really a crowd puller or particularly ‘high’.
This doesn’t mean that there aren’t (or haven’t been) plenty of realistic options. Some of these already exist, some had a chance of being a genuine High Line until they were overtaken by events, whilst others still have potential. There is one, in particular, which falls into the latter category.
Broad Street Approach
A short abandoned, elevated link of the old North London Railway branch to Broad Street station, the remainder of which has become the East London Line Extension, remains near the Broadgate Tower/Estate (now built across where the former Broad Street station was), located at the turn across Shoreditch. It is currently blocked by Village Underground, a popular music and arts venue which notably and ironically has some old Jubilee line carriages on its roof as workspaces. The link, closed to the public, is however very short, barely 100m long. Indeed, even this fragment has been very recently further reduced, part-demolished by works associated with the Principal Place residential skyscraper development, beside the former Light Bar, which was itself saved.
Village Underground on the Broad Street Approach
Nonetheless the public can still experience the High Line feel by taking the East London Overground line between Dalston Junction and Shoreditch High Street – passing by the second floors and roofs of old industrial buildings and loft apartments, with excellent and unexpected views across to central London. The new stations, particularly Hoxton, have developed a High Line style coffees-amongst-brickwork feel to them. It’s not quite the same but it’s probably, in terms of area and feel, the closest that London has right now. Another elevated Overground section, from Hackney Downs to Bethnal Green, has the same post-industrial chic.
Broad Street Approach which now forms a chord between Liverpool Street Station and the East London Line Extension. Diamond Geezer
Current status: The small section remains derelict and inaccessible and there appears to be little interest in opening it.
The Newham Greenway
The Greenway is an existing High Line in East London. It does not follow the route of an abandoned railway line, rather it runs 7km along the top of the Northern Outflow Sewer. This is one of London’s huge Victorian sewer pipes constructed by Bazelgette and the occasional vents in the path’s tarmac provides passers-by with a reminder of what is below. As a result the Greenway, aided by the path’s signage made from recycled sewer pipe, was initially nicknamed the ‘Sewerbank’.
The route heads east from Hackney Wick, which certainly ticks the High Line boxes of a post-industrial, loft-living neighbourhood, before slicing through the still-evolving Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The remainder of the route, however, is through large industrial sites and a low-density residential area – Plaistow. The grand Victorian Abbey Mill sewage pumping station is a highlight towards the western end of the path.
The first part of the Greenway received a substantial upgrade just before the Olympics, as it provided two potential entry points into the Olympic Park during the Games (although they were little used in the end). A section had to be blocked during the games though, as the athletes’ route between the warm-up track and the main Olympic Stadium passed across it. The Park’s improvement works were designed with the legacy in mind and the resulting path is of a good quality, well-lit and with good views to the Olympic Park structures and the various residential skyscrapers going up along Stratford High Street. Cyclists use it as a commuting link as the path is wide and visibility good.
The Newham Greenway. Oliver O’Brien
The route will be further improved when the Crossrail works finish later in 2018 and a Greenway section near Stratford, which has been closed since 2007, finally reopens. If walking along this first part, stop off at the “View Tube“, a coffee shop made out of lime-green shipping containers, perched at the point where the Greenway route descends to cross under a railway line. It is an excellent vantage point. There may be further buildings appearing in the future – such as the University College London East campus and other similar projects – which mean that this section might eventually form more of a High Line feel, but it will never be an oasis in a dense inner-city, simply because it is too far out from central London.
Millwall Viaduct
Before the DLR came along in the 1980s, the abandoned Millwall Extension of the London & Blackwall Railway ran through the Isle of Dogs and ended on a viaduct just south of the current Island Gardens station, at a terminus called North Greenwich – several miles from the Tube station with that name. Almost the whole route, including the viaduct, was then reused when the DLR was built, with the new Island Gardens station built just north of the old one. When the DLR was extended under the River Thames to Greenwich, the route needed to drop at a greater gradient than even the DLR could manage so that it could tunnel under the Thames, therefore this short section at the southern tip of the Isle of Dogs was abandoned for a second time. The viaduct remains to this day, running across Millwall Park, starting shortly after Mudchute Station and ending shortly before the old Island Gardens station.
Millwall Viaduct and parallel path underneath. SquareWheels.org
On paper, it would make a lovely High Line if it weren’t for being:
- a little too short
- above or beside a public footpath already for its whole length
- in a park rather than crossing over roads and around or through buildings, and
- quite a long way from inner city London.
Still, it’s conversion would likely be an attractive prospect to many, especially those wishing to follow a route not possible since the original Island Gardens terminus station (née North Greenwich) re-closed in the 1990s. Aerial imagery suggests the viaduct path is currently just strip of grass and shrubbery. For the foreseeable future, it seems likely to remain a derelict railway section with no public access.
Peckham Coal Line
Peckham Coal Line is the centre green strip. Peckham Coal Line
The Peckham Coal Line is a potential High Line for south London. It is also one with a higher profile than most of the others in this feature, following a recent crowd-funding campaign to fund a full feasibility study and expressions of interest from Southwark Council, former Mayor Boris Johnson and others.
Proponents’ ground level sketch. Peckham Coal Line
The route proposes taking over an unused set of sidings beside the Overground between Rye Lane (near Peckham Rye station) and Queen’s Road Peckham station. This would be turned it into a linear park, separated from the railway by a fence, incorporating a gradual descent down to road level at its eastern end through an existing small park beside the railway. The total length would be a kilometre. Peckham Rye station itself is due to undergo a major redevelopment, opening out the historic Victorian station building and courtyard, and a nearby High Line would be likely to greatly add to the rejuvenation of the area.
Aerial view. Peckham Coal Line
Peckham is reasonably far out from central London, but has the right ‘inner-city’ urban-renewal feel that could mean such a venture ends up being successful. The people behind the campaign held an open day in 2015 where part of the route was test-walked. Looking at the map (dangerous in and of itself) suggests that much of the route will be a tight squeeze between the viaduct edge and operational railway.
The website for the project is impressive and has some nice videos and visuals of what it looks like now and what it might look like in the future. The previous Mayor of London had backed the feasibility study but did not announce any funding. Architect and landscape designer Adams & Sutherland was appointed in April 2016 to create the feasibility study for this elevated walkway which would lead to a series of community engagement and participation events to test the designs. Peckham Coal Line advocates have been planning a launch of the crowdfunded feasibility study. This was due to be published last year but required greater volunteer effort than had been anticipated. It is now anticipated to come out later in 2018.
Parkland Walk, North London
The Parkland Walk is possibly the closest thing that London has to a High Line right now. It is a section of the never-opened Northern Heights extension of the Northern line which itself was originally part of the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway. It even includes former platforms at one point. It has some short elevated sections and it already exists as a walking and cycling route.
Planned Northern Heights extension on post war map
However, the character of the area is very different. The line runs through a solidly residential, leafy (and hilly) part of north London. This connects Finsbury Park to Highgate with a branch of the route running from Queen’s Wood, near Highgate, to Alexandra Palace which provides some spectacular views southward to central London. The feel is more of a woodland walk, with tall mature trees lessening the sense of threading through the city and observing it and making the route feel rather enclosed and claustrophobic in places. It’s a popular route with dog walkers or people cycling west from Finsbury Park – although the route is generally not surfaced and can turn to mud in bad weather.
Parkland Walk. Oliver O’Brien
More could be made of it, certainly. However, the local patronage probably rather like it as it is and would never allow the trees to be cut down to improve the view. The route is a lost link, a slightly neglected but useful enough rail trail through some deliberately overgrown flora, rather than a place to view the city from. The route is not secure or lit and is open at night, so has suffered from some anti-social problems.
Parkland Walk map. OpenStreetMap contributorsBishopsgate Goods Yard
This is a potential High Line that might well happen, but in a radically different form to the current situation. Largely demolished, the raised Bishopsgate Goods Yard area is about to see major changes.
Sitting just south of the new Shoreditch High Street Overground station was once Bishopsgate Station, converted to a goods yard in 1875. After a huge fire in 1964 it was abandoned. The remains of the building were demolished in 2003 but a raised area remains, part of which is the Braithwaite Viaduct, a relatively linear section which is largely unseen. The adjoining Shoreditch High Street station is also elevated and so the viaduct would provide good views of the area, except that it is enclosed in concrete in anticipation of major building construction over and alongside it.
Bishopsgate Goods Yard (outlined). More Light More Power
It would make a nice, if short, High Line running between Brick Lane and the Great Eastern Street/Bishopsgate junction, with great views over to the City, Spitalfields and Hoxton/Shoreditch. The section is just 260m long, not much longer than the station alongside it, but conversion has been suggested. Indeed, the BBC have made a short video segment about it.
Bishopsgate Goods Yard barren path. The Goodsyard
A small part of the site – specifically the arches forming the remainder of the Braithwaite Viaduct – are likely to be preserved and remodelled (rather than being demolished) as part of a huge new mixed use development, The Goodsyard, that is currently mired in the planning process.
Photos of the potential design suggest a high level walking route above the arches connecting the various new buildings, as well as Brick Lane with Bishopsgate, along with lower level paths, including one in the arches themselves. A local campaign against the project, concerned mainly with overshadowing of the existing Shoreditch area, has already led to some design changes. Existing railway tunnels (Central line and Great Eastern) underneath the site mean that piling locations are limited however, and so elevated walkways (which generally wouldn’t require piling) are likely to remain part of the final design. It won’t be a quiet path snaking through an old industrial area, rather a route connecting various new blocks. It will, however, be raised and it’s in an appropriately gritty area for a High Line, as anyone who’s crossed the Three Colts Bridge over the Hertford Union Canal in Tower Hamlets will know. Bishopsgate Goods Yard has been off limits to the public for about 50 years.
Limehouse Curve
Limehouse Curve lies just east of Limehouse station in Tower Hamlets, East London. It was formerly a railway chord for the London and Blackwall Railway that linked Stratford/West Ham and the Isle of Dogs/Blackwall until the 1960s. These days only a short 120m long brick viaduct section remains, about half of the curve itself, running from the DLR viaduct at the eastern edge of Limehouse Basin and crossing Commercial Road, beyond which a line of apartments stands. The link is short but it is raised and through an appropriately gritty part of the post-industrial inner-city.
The curve is located in a local conservation area that includes interesting industrial infrastructure such as the Limehouse Accumulator Tower and the Limehouse Station viaduct. In terms of pedestrian connections, the Limehouse Curve is also near the Jubilee Greenway and Thames Path London Walks (more on these later). There are two bridges that are solely part of the disused route plus a third which is shared with the existing DLR route, beside which a wooden decking and descent down to street level could be assembled. Step-free access, likely a prerequisite for any funded project, would be very tricky at this end, however.
Limehouse Curve collage. What If
There was a tentative project a few years ago to create connections at either end. Nothing came of it.The route remains, though, and includes a potentially useful bridge across a busy road. Perhaps one day it will live again.
Limehouse Curve model. What If
Barbican Highwalks
The Barbican is a huge 1950s-60s housing development in the ‘raw concrete’ Brutalist style which divides opinion. The concept of the Barbican was to have the pedestrian level on two ‘podiums’ 4-6 metres above the car/street level, entirely separated from traffic. Connections between the podiums and the street level, and between different parts of the estate, are via ‘Highwalks’. These walkways in the sky are in fact legally considered to be public streets and they are a pleasant way to pass through this part of the City without encountering traffic.
Barbican Highwalks. Oliver O’Brien
The Highwalks are shown as orange lines on the estate maps scattered throughout the site. Most of the corresponding orange lines painted on the ground still exist to help visitors, often unfamiliar with the complex three dimensional nature of the walking routes in the area, find their way to the Barbican Art Centre.
One section of the Highwalks near the Barbican that has recently disappeared is a triangle of land near London Wall that used to connect the predominately residential Barbican to the Guildhall. This has recently been demolished for the new London Wall Place complex of office towers. Thankfully, the raised section has reopened in early 2018, following office building development works beside London Wall. The reopened sections has been completely reimagined in steel and wood, with a curved section giving a much greater view of some historical remains. The reopened link passes through the new buildings and restores the connection between London Wall, the Barbican network of Highwalks and podiums, the Guildhall and the rest of the City. The thought these days is to improve the pedestrian realm at street level, as ultimately that’s where people want to be, but it’s good to see that in this case the ‘first floor’ pedestrian level has a second life as a route from which to observe the buzz of the city below.
City of London Pedways
Complementary to the Highwalks of the Barbican, elevated ‘Pedways’ were intended in fact to spread throughout the Square Mile of the City, of which the Barbican formed the northern edge. For several years in the 1950s and early 1960s, new offices were required to have an entrance and lobby on the first floor, as well as on the ground floor as normal. In time, a network of Pedway bridges would connect the offices to each other and provide a complete alternative network of pedestrian routes around the City. Such 1950s utopian ideals never came to pass.
The history of pedways will be the subject of a forthcoming LR article, so we will explore them in detail in future. For now, it is worth highlighting that the still extant Pedway network forms a north-south route from London Wall to the Thames, including a long road-level section linking the two main elevated sections. The network itself is also gradually disappearing, as the City and its buildings are redeveloped with no apparent interest in rebuilding or restoring Pedway segments or connections.
City Pedway. Daniel WrightBorough Market Bridge
This new railway bridge was lifted into place a few years ago and now forms the dedicated tracks between London Bridge and Charing Cross, with the old bridge going to just Blackfriars rather than to both. For its first few years, it was empty and was used for storage and the possibility of a temporary High Line perhaps existed, allowing people to walk straight from the concourse in front of London Bridge station to Borough Market, without having to cross Borough High Street. This opportunity has now passed. There was also potential for using the railway chord that curves westwards from Cannon Street to Charing Cross, as no scheduled train needs to use this curve. However, there is still a single track here which is used as a siding after the morning rush hour, so although there is enough room for a path alongside, it’s (even) less likely that this would ever become a High Line for the public on safety grounds.
Borough Market Bridge. GoogleCamden Highline
This final London High Line idea is one which seems to tick all the boxes. It runs through post-industrial inner-city London, it’s elevated, it’s an old railway route and the land is undeveloped. The potential route runs between Camden Gardens Park (just off Kentish Town Road), around the back of Camden Road station alongside the Overground’s North London Line, across a number of intact but unused railway bridges and ends at an existing footbridge across the Midland Mainline, just past Camley Street. In all, a distance of around 800m, with a possible Phase 2 future extension across to the huge, evolving development area behind King’s Cross station.
Aerial view of the line. Camden Town Unlimited
The ‘Highline’ could build a staircase at its western end in Camden Gardens, potentially the most expensive new structure of the project. The western end could alternatively have step-free access from Camden Road station, so a lift may not be needed in Camden Gardens after all.
The route would then move away from the current railway line, using the disused (and now heavily overgrown) section behind Camden Road station – another possible access point and one that could provide a step-free entrance using the existing lift on the eastbound platform (ticket barrier location notwithstanding).
The route moves back towards the current rail line, crossing Camden Road on a disused but intact bridge. This is the bridge which currently has “Camden Road” painted on its side prominently by Network Rail, visible when travelling down the hill. Walking underneath the bridge reveals its empty and expansive nature. The route continues along the former double-track between Camden Road and Caledonian Road & Barnsbury stations, walled off safely but with plenty of space available for the path itself. Other road bridges follow, one of which has potential for a spiral staircase connecting down to a large paved area below it.
The east end of the route at Camley Street narrows but connects to a new railway bridge, from which ramps and stairs provide a choice of access. There is actually still space on the new bridge here for a narrow walkway, and a ramp on the other side means no need for a new access point. As the land in front is also currently empty, it could quite easily accommodate a new route down, potentially as part of a wider development of the plot. The road south leads to the Regent’s Canal and the back of St Pancras International station.
A ‘Phase 2’ extension of equal length could connect the eastern end of the Camden Highline southwards to the huge mixed-use King’s Cross Central redevelopment and Central St Martin’s College behind King’s Cross station. Such a route would require crossing over (or under) the existing North London Line and various other lines emerging from St Pancras, with at least one footbridge needed – as such it would be an expensive exercise. Having a complete link running all the way between Camden Town and the King’s Cross – St Pancras complex, parallel to Regent’s Canal to the south, seems like an obvious route between two major north London walking destinations.
The full Camden Highline would provide pedestrians with a pleasant 10-minute, car-free garden walk linking the expanding King’s Cross – St Pancras transport hub and educational district with Camden Town, popular with tourists for its markets and music events. Sound barriers 2m high and covered with plants could mask the railway sounds, although arguably a close-up view of the slow-speed but intensive railway could be part of the attraction – a similar concept is being mooted as part of the Museum of London’s move to Smithfield, with a subterranean gallery providing a view of the Thameslink tunnels.
It now looks like this project could be happening as Camden Town Unlimited, the business improvement group for the area, are proposing it as a serious plan. Design and architecture firms Studio Weave and Architecture 00 won the design competition and collaborated to create the initial visualisations to show off the Highline. A 3D wooden model of the route and the surrounding topology has been produced, which gives a good sense of the scope and extent of the project.
Camden Highline Road Bridge Rendering. Camden Town Unlimited
The viability of the project depends on Network Rail long-leasing its land, support from Camden Council and the Greater London Authority, a fundraising effort to build the actual trail and connections to it, and likely the creation of a local trust dedicated to maintaining such a route on a largely voluntary basis once it opened, as is the case with the New York High Line. There have been positive noises from all these parties so far, but the challenge is just beginning. In short, it won’t be easy, but it is certainly very possible.
Right now though it remains a derelict railway section with no public access. Camden Town Unlimited have been working with Network Rail since early 2016 on the technical feasibility of using the rail infrastructure and have a publicity campaign underway. Since then, a new link near the east end, not directly related but potentially beneficial, was recently completed, as King’s Cross development owners Argent have built a brand new footbridge across Regent’s Canal, connecting directly to Camley Street and what will be known as Gasholder Gardens. The footbridge opened in July following landscaping and installation of the access ramps, providing step-free access. Camden Highline advocates successfully crowdfunded a feasibility study, which was duly commissioned and completed at the end of 2017, the results of which were outlined in early 2018. The Camden Highline website shows interesting views of the route, from on and below the alignment.
Continuing the story
This map shows the 11 London High Lines drawn on Google Maps. Improved pedestrian environments and car free zones have not always been a high priority for London’s infrastructure planners, but TfL do have a practical London Walking section which links to maps of central London Tube and rail station-to-station walking times, as well as the map of Tube transfers that are quicker on foot. This page also links to the seven formal paths in and around London, including the Thames Path and the London Outer Orbital Path (LOOP), which form the Walk London Network, one of the largest walking networks of any city in the world. These routes were specifically designed to be easily accessible by public transport.
For now, High Lines remain very much a paper entity in London, although what the future will bring remains to be seen. Regardless, globally High Lines have put public focus on pleasurable walking environments in the urban fabric, and those opened to date demonstrate how they stimulate discussion, activity and commerce. Arguably,the things that cities do best.
This article is an updated version of a series of individual posts published by Oliver O’Brien, urbanist and researcher at University College London (UCL), on his Urban/Rural blog. He also runs Mapping London. His original Camden High line proposal in December 2015 was the inspiration for Camden Town Unlimited’s current Highline campaign.
What of Mile End Park? That’s got The Green Bridge over the Mile End Road (A11)?
I really enjoyed that. Thank you very much! It was good to see an article on pedestrian schemes, otherwise all-too-rarely written about.
You forgot the existing one in Paris, and one of the oldest – the Promenade Plantee along the former viaduct into Bastille surface station.
[Thanks, I have added a mention of it. Oliver]
The link to network.thehighline.org is not working.
[Fixed, cheers. LBM]
“an underground mushroom walk………not particularly high”
That depends what sort of mushrooms they are,……….
The article is a little out of date. Diamond Geezer reported quite recently that the reinstated London Wall City pedways are now open.
[Thanks. I have added a note about it now. Oliver]
In the 1980s the old Crystal Palace High Level branch in Sydenham/Dulwich was possible to walk along. Is that still another potential “High Line” (bit of a misnomer as most of it is in cutting)
The New York Highline is indeed great to walk along, especially as New York is a more tedious City to walk around than London, due to the regularity of the “streets” you cross walking North/South, and their width! London is far more pedestrian friendly as most of the roads are narrow and relatively free of traffic if you avoid the main routes.
The Camden Highline would be nice, though a less direct route than the Regents Canal (albeit the latter probably isn’t nice at night)
And London has a lot of parks too. Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park/Green Park/St James park combine to make a long “green walk” from Trafalgar Square, right out to Kensington and Notting Hill. Similarly Regents Park/Primrose Hill make a long green walk from the Euston Road to Camden and Swiss Cottage. Even when the parks are closed, the roads around are still quite pleasant, indeed a cycle superhighway will go around Regents Park
No mention of Greenway?
Or is that a little too far out?
@Ryan
Do you mean the Newham Greenway?
Just outside London, and not exactly high, the Alban Way from St Albans to Hatfield follows the path of an old railway line. One of the old stations is still in place.
A London High Line feels like a solution looking for a problem
Yes the Highline – I’ve walked it several times – is great but it’s become a victim of it’s own success and is at times very crowded.
Remember that is a private park run by a private organisation that has to raise huge sums every year to pay for maintenance and capital improvements. There really isn’t the same sort of culture for this sort of thing in the UK – the Garden Bridge was hardly a success for a private organisation was it ? and it required huge amounts of public funding to get it built and likely would have needed the same for maintenance.
The problem all of these schemes have is who pays for the maintenance once the things have been built. Many local authorities struggle with the parks etc they already own let alone any new ones.
Whilst not a park Hastings Pier was rescued and restored by public subscription (and a huge Heritage Lottery Grant). But because it didn’t raise enough to cover its running costs the charity that owns it now in administration.
Greenway was mentioned, though the southern counterpart is hardly known.
I can’t find out anything about when the final part of the (northern) Greenway is opening, does anyone have an unannounced answer?
The Camden route is the only one of all the former rail options I think would be better used as rail, or at least a third rail line and a narrower high line.
High lines are great places – I love New York’s – but, in all honesty, they are rather marginal to the issue of walking as a mode of transport. Most walked journeys are short and direct so that anything which requires pedestrians to walk longer distances than they need for day to day journeys – however nice, is not likely to be that successful. Hence New York’s highland is now more of a tourist trail or a destination in its own right, rather than a boost to walked journeys.
Promoting walking, as a mode for short journeys, is much less likely to be about major schemes than about many small interventions, such as replacing subways and footbridges with at-grade crossings, all red phases at traffic light junctions, better surfacing and wider footways. All fairly mundane – you won’t get any plaques to mark their completion – but absolutely essential.
Significant portions of the ex Crystal Palace and South London Junction Rly. has a path within a green setting along the route, though not all accessible or connected. A ‘joining-up’ policy such as the intention behind the Thames Path could open this up over time, with easy links to a number of parks, green spaces and attractions along the way.
As others have said, I’m not sure of the transport usefulness of many of these.
The main missing london walking /cycling route that stands out is the thames path, which I would guess is the longest continuous walking /cycling route in london. It also of course has no strategy at all and exists in differently maintained bits for each borough, and apart from short sections on the NCN is not really listed as a route.
New Ham “Greenway” – a.k.a. the top of The Northern Outfall Sewer
There’s a very good “High Line” in Paris .. Le Promenade Plantee
Well-worth a leisurely walk ( Yes, I’ve done it, early one morning, just after sunrise )
[Yes, I recently walked the high section in the afternoon. It was a nice route but the end of this section was a bit of a surprise. I have added a note about it. Oliver]
Crystal Palace & S London railway. Can I recommend The Crystal Palace High Level Railway
Very good.
Excellent article – the re-use of unused assets – the easiest way to improve productivity – both economic and social. Perhaps all elevated extensions of the DLR should incorporate a walk/cycle ways from inception?
A few weeks ago the London high walk London Wall was not yet open
What a fantastic and comprehensive article, much of it about places I travel on or past almost daily. Thank you Oliver.
+ I’ve always wondered why Shoreditch Station seems so wastefully enclosed when it could offer a fantastic vista like the other stations nearby. Now I know.
Good to see an article like this on here.
One other footnote to this should surely be the Grand Surrey Canal, which formerly ran between Rotherhithe and Camberwell with a branch to Peckham. Substantial sections are now used as walking and cycling routes and more are due to be reopened by redevelopments in the Deptford area. The cycleway/walkway along Surrey Canal Road, part of TfL’s Quietway 1, is the old canal towpath and there are long green sections through Burgess Park and along the entire former Peckham branch to Peckham Square (I believe this stretch was once identified as a possible alignment for the Cross-River Tram?).
Quietway 1 also follows the former East London Railway link from Surrey Quays to Peckham, since restored as part of the Overground but a walkway and cycleway remains parallel to the railway. It then continues between the existing Southern lines and the New Den on the trackbed of old sidings and crosses Rotherhithe New Road on the same alignment as a former rail bridge into Bricklayers Arms yards. Beyond this is also largely through alignments of former sidings though the comprehensive redevelopment of the rail yards as residential streets has rather obscured this.
There were formerly more ‘high walks’ in London as several big social housing estates were built in the 1960s with this in mind. Pepys Estate in Deptford originally had most of its pedestrian access at 1st floor level although nearly all of the infrastructure that enabled this has gone. There are still some quite long stretches of high walk in the Lucey Way housing estate in Bermondsey, immediately to the south of the London and Greenwich rail viaduct.
I don’t think a temporary High Line at Borough Market was ever plausible due to considerable engineering work going on there.
The west side of the Borough Market Triangle was due to be abandoned for railway use under the Thameslink Programme but the train operating company made a compelling case for retention. It can be very useful if through trains cannot run to Charing Cross due to planned engineering works and – even with Thameslink operating – it should still be possible to continue to run a Charing Cross – Cannon St shuttle when necessary. In any case I think access at the southern end would be extremely problematic and the ‘low level’ equivalent is a pleasant and interesting walk itself – or rather was. It is being redeveloped right now and we shall have to see if the development is sympathetic, or not, to its existing surroundings.
It is not quite a high line but for years it has been suggest at a high level that there should be a public footpath over the Thames on the west side of Cannon St Railway Bridge. This would either be utilising the existing, but little used, siding space or be a ‘bolt-on’ addition. Interest in the idea seems to have died a death. I suspect the saga of the Garden Bridge hasn’t helped the cause.
Again, not quite a high line but the Jubilee footbridges either side of Hungerford Rail Bridge at Charing Cross and the Millennium Bridge show that London is not averse to major high-level pedestrian projects that exclude all other forms of transport (even bikes).
The Diamond Geezer piece is here…
I’m particularly taken by the curved walkway…to use DG’s word’s…sexy wiggle…
https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/st-alpheges-highwalk.html
Northern Outfall Sewer is great in theory. In reality it’s a bit smelly on a warm day – especially if walking 🙁
The Jubilee Bridges replaced a rather tatty walkway attached to the side of Hungerford Bridge. The walkway was provided when the railway bridge was built in 1864, replacing a pedestrian suspension bridge that had been there since 1845. The components of the suspension bridge were recycled, and now span the Clifton Gorge in Bristol.
@M Buckton
“A few weeks ago the London high walk London Wall was not yet open”
Indeed so – it only opened just before Easter.
http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2018_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html – see blog for 28th March
Greg Tingey,
Le Promenade Plantee in Paris is indeed excellent but, when I visited, it unaccountably stopped short of its full potential. It continues, half-heartedly, before becoming another, less-well-maintained urban walk before finally hitting a showstopper of a barrier to further lengthening.
Disappointing is the very limited advantage taken of the La Petite Ceinture. There are various bits that are open such as described here but it contains so much potential – as this BBC web article shows.
Here in Barnes village (SW13 london) we are working together with network rail, Richmond council and Hounslow council to convert the old Barnes Bridge (disused for 100 years) to a garden bridge above the Thames.
I found the linked 2015 Guardian article on the restricted access to the Thames Path depressing, if unsuprising.
What’s the present state of access to that path?
The Southern outfall sewer path starts out quite well, almost from the platform-ends of Plumstead station, but gradually peters out, before actually reaching Cross Ness. Not that the Northern actually gets you to Abbey Mills – would that it did!
The Camden High line should be abandoned, as the rest of the line needs restoring to 4 tracks, all the way through – or so I think, anyway.
Interesting article, shame the Ridgeway (London) was not mentioned even though the Greenway was.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgeway_(London)
The article and Mikey C mention the Regents Canal towpath. This could be more useful as a walk and cycle path were it to have some tender loving care.
Re Greg
Improving gradually, most councils are forcing the riverside property owners to open up where possible when they are looking for planning permission to redevelop. The environment agency and PLA also force upgrades to the Flood Wall to the latest standard at the same time (current new /modified wall height is circa 90cm above the 7/1/1928 Flood level (~2″ inches higher than ’53) in most places)
For example Hammersmith and Fulham have managed to the get much more of the path riverside between Hammersmith and Putney Bridges
to much more closely follow the river with all the recent developments at Riverside Studios, ex Queen Caroline Wharf site and Old Palace (Crabtree) Wharf, so the only real deviations are round Craven Cottage (which is due to change if Fulham FC ever redevelop (they have PP, just no money…) and Bishops Park at night when the park is closed.
A little further downstream – The Super Sewer TBM launch site in Fulham off Carnwath Road (opposite the Wandsworth Waste Transfer station) will have the Thames Path riverside after construction and will complete the Hurlingham Club – Wordsworth Bridge riverside. Just East of Wandsworth Bridge there are fuel depot and concrete batching plants (both protected sites with deliveries by river) so no realistic chance of the path being riverside immediately east of the Bridge but from the redeveloped Sainsbury eastwards there eastwards there the path will be complete to Battersea Bridge (except a couple of Riverside buildings above a storm sewer outlet including a Waste Transfer station) once the 2 separate Lots Road redevelopments finish. Hence H&F will have effectively completed the path being riverside to sensible extent soon.
LB Wandsworth will soon (4 years) be in similar good state once much of the current building spree has completed but has many more issues with functioning riverside sites (Waste Transfer stations, concrete batch plants, fuel depots. heliports and super sewer + Northern Line construction sites) than H+F.
@GregTingey at 13:13 “What’s the present state of access to [the Thames] path?”
I’ve cycled it hundreds of times between Greenwich and central London as far as Westminster Bridge without problem, except for the bit between Tower Bridge and London Bridge, past City Hall, where the guards from More London Place tend to descent on cyclists and warn us off — even though there is plenty of space and a marked cycle path could be made easily.
It’s a lot nicer than the paintway along the A200, which TfL plans to convert to a proper cycle superhighway.
Re Answer =42,
Agreed but like all these schemes who’s paying?
The Towpath between Richmond (Ham) and Putney could be an excellent cycle super highway (ownership PLA, LB Richmond and LB Wandsworth) if the surface was upgraded + lighting and CCTV installed (currently a mugging and gropers paradise unless you are the Met in which case they seen no crime what so ever…)
@Raphael – I thought the bridge at Barnes Bridge (still very much in use) was under the bridge on the Chiswick side to avoid the current detour on the Thames path.
https://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/dukes-meadow-bridge-in-chiswick-hounslow
Greg. River path access continues to be problematic. LB Tower Hamlets (who admittedly have a thousand other pressing issues) don’t appear to make this a priority. LBTH routinely allow developers to restrict access, sometimes for years, whilst building work is underway. Example – on east side of Isle of Dogs where a building is being rebuilt / refurbished – but it would have required minimal extra effort by the builders to keep the path open. Contrast that with the City Corporation which is generally very good at requiring developers to maintain pedestrian routes whilst work is under way.
That said, LBTH did recently turn down a planning application in Wapping where the managing agent of a building tried to close access to river path, claiming anti social behaviour. A good local campaign ensued lots of objections were registered, and the access is maintained.
There are a few places where it is unlikely access will ever be possible – example there is a licenced and operational heliport on the river side on the west side of the Isle of Dogs. (Fortunately the licence has strict conditions so it doesn’t get a huge number of helicopter movements)
Re Reynolds 953 and Raphael,
2 different schemes.
The original Barnes Railway Bridge was a twin track wrought iron bridge under arch bridge formed of 4 sets of parallel arches (2 per track) that wasn’t very strong and has been partially replaced (where the original eastern most (downstream) track was useing some of the original buttresses, the former western most track was used in bi-bidirectionally during the rebuild works) by a new twin track new steel overarch bridge (with footbridge to the east side) that is used by the trains today. The replacement needed an Act as the Duke was unhelpful, to force the issue and all of the poor footpath issues also relate to the deceased former owner – the only positive aspect was him requiring the footbridge to be added to the scheme)
3 of the original parallel wrought Iron arches are still in situ to the west of the current in use bridge where the original western track was removed (and can be seen on the left in the first photo on the site Reynolds linked to).
The scheme Raphael mentions involves converting the unused bridge deck ( partial timber balks so sieve is may be a better word than deck currently!) to create a wide additional cross river connection (the footbridge is narrow).
The scheme Reynolds mentioned is an LB Hounslow one to solve the problem of crossing the railway line on the north bank (the simplest scheme would just be to put a pedestrian tunnel through the railway embankment about 30m north of the buttress on the north bank.
NR installed the sheet piling around the buttress on the northern bank about 8 years ago during the last major works on the bridge (minor repairs, strip + epoxy coat and new track) and the ground conditions there are pretty grim.
Interestingly the article Reynolds linked to lifted this quote from the Architects “The bridge also responds to the high volume of rowing traffic along this section of the river, anticipating views to and from rowers at all tide levels.”
If they were responding to rowing traffic they wouldn’t build a bridge there due to the level of rowing traffic going against the tide ( d’oh ).
The PLA also dislike sighting obstructions on the inside of bends near Bridges ( d’oh again) and there are already issues with silting up around the bridge on the north side because of the lack of scour vortexes especially the inside (north bank) of the bend (the bridge not being at right angles to the river doesn’t is the main cause of problems and adding 2 more pillars in just the wrong places is a 3rd d’oh moment) I wouldn’t expect this scheme not to get mauled by the PLA…
If you want proper walking plans, then something along the Integrated Network Maps under the Active Travel (Wales) Act are needed. Inn my view the New York High Line is to walking what the Flying Scotsman (engine) is to rail travel – great show but that’s it.
I also think the obsession with the high aspect is silly. As others have said, that makes a difference in New York because of its street network. In London, if I were to create one showcase walking route, it would be a proper Thames Path. Even the footpath from the London Eye to the Tate Modern is pretty mediocre as a public space. Further east I’d have board walks – but following relevant best practice for paths (see for example the relevant Welsh Design Guidance), not a constant zig-zag.
As someone who grew up in Plaistow, I am very familiar with the Greenway although it’s been several years since I last walked it. Perhaps the reopening of the closed-by-Crossrail section will give me the perfect excuse to go back there.
(Also, typo alert! In the 3rd paragraph on the Barbican Highwalks is the word “reopend”.) [Ta – fixed. Oliver]
@NGH
Re Regents canal
In principle, the Canal & River Trust is I believe responsible. Even if they are less strapped for cash than local authorities, they do have many calls on funds. I don’t know if and to what extent some TLC for the Regents could be used to create new income streams.
Can I mentioned the new lifting Bridge at Leamouth – over the river Lea/Lee (just before the Lee/Lea joins the Thames) at the site of the former Pura margarine factory.
This is a lifting bridge more than a “high line” but perhaps worthy of a comment – because it has opened up pedestrian and cycle access to a former industrial area that was previously surprisingly difficult to access on foot. The developer has also opened up parts of the river Lee to walking access that were previously inaccessible.
While I’m generally skeptical of the way many property developers “game” the S106 system, I need to be fair and point out that the developer (putting in the usual huge number of flats) has made large contributions to the cost of this new bridge.
It had to be a lifting bridge because this part of the Lee/Lea is still classed as navigable waterway – even though no commercial shipping now uses it. I’ve never known the bridge to actually lift to let river traffic pass.
Great article – A fascinating roundup of some places and structures most of which I have never heard of. Mention was made of some possible High Lines being too short – short may be only feasible option. Surely the biggest issue with a High Line ( or a subway ) is one of security. If harassed or confronted you only have the option to run in two directions – one already blocked by the aggressor. And it would be easy become trapped by criminals working in concert. Without the ability to run in any direction I would feel uncomfortable using a High Line of any great length –especially one that is lightly used , unless security personnel were within sight. This would add greatly to the cost and/or require possible closure at night.
Oh, and if you’re really want a proper high line walking (& cycling) route that it reasonably long and central, I’d vote for converting the Westway!
Discomfort about walking in particular places will vary from person to person. But closing a pathway at night strikes me as pointless. Anyone who feels prepared to take the risk should be allowed to do so, and those who are concerned will avoid the path, whether it is open or closed.
With my watery background I can add another few routes. The straight walking route in the Lea Valley Park between Coppermill Lane and Lea Bridge Road is on top of the former aqueduct that conveyed untreated water to the now abandoned Lea Bridge Treatment Works. When it was drained, it was found to be choked with freshwater mussels! The other route follows the 17th century New River, which still carries water from the upper river Lea near Ware to Stoke Newington. It’s a contour canal, which was shortened over the years by bridging stream valleys so is now elevated in places. I was involved in the 1990s in providing funds and opportunities for public access to as much of the riverbank as was practicable. It is not continuous, but a fairly large amount was opened up.
Feels like Regents Canal through inner North London is our version of the high line in terms of the kind of view, revelopment, and uninterupted calm.
Part of the joy of High Line is avoiding the grid, which is particularly relentless going up-down. That’s not such an issue in London with the river and parks. Maybe we could turn the westway into a park or extend Oxford Street pedestrianisation to The City? (Dreaming).
What about the Westway between Edgware Road and White City? TfL can close it down and convert it into a highline park.
Re Borough Market
“This new railway bridge was lifted into place a few years ago and now forms the dedicated tracks between London Bridge and Charing Cross, with the old bridge going to just Blackfriars rather than to both.”
What about Cannon Street?
The old bridge has four tracks – two of them carry Cannon Street traffic, as they did before.
The latest on the two Barnes proposals, as someone living in the area…
The one under the bridge got planning permission a couple of months back…
http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=dukesmeadowupdate010.htm
As for the Barnes garden bridge, all seems to have gone rather quiet. This piece does show one of the artists impressions quite well…
http://www.putneysw15.com/default.asp?section=info&link=http://neighbournet.com/server/common/conbarnesgreenbridge001.htm
Re Tim,
The Authors ignore Cannon Street (probably because as Timbeau implied there is effectively no change) and conflated the situation east and west of Borough Market Jn.
Over the market the old bridge (technically a viaduct as it has more than 5 spans) across the south (bottom) of the triangle had just 2 tracks, a new 2 track bridge was added just to the south so there are now 4 tracks across the bottom of the triangle between London Bridge and Blackfriars/Charing Cross or east of Borough Market Jn now 6 instead of four which then fan out into 9 tracks before the station (was 7 before the works).
Interesting as the article is, I must agree with the commenters who’ve suggested that there seems to be an unwarranted obsession with elevated park structures just because New York has one.
If there’s money to be spent, it should be spent improving the Thames Path, the Regents Canal and other existing but neglected routes. Like the garden bridge, most of these “high line” schemes are largely gimmicky vanity projects.
In Camden the disused rail alignment was planned to be rebuilt a few years ago but the scheme was cut back because of the cost of replacing the derelict bridges; the area is a rail freight bottleneck and it seems likely the route will need to be pressed into service as an active railway sooner or later.
@NGH etc
“Over the market the old bridge (technically a viaduct as it has more than 5 spans) across the south (bottom) of the triangle had just 2 tracks, a new 2 track bridge was added just to the south so there are now 4 tracks across the bottom of the triangle between London Bridge and Blackfriars/Charing Cross or east of Borough Market Jn now 6 instead of four ”
The south side of the triangle is even more complicated because at its west end it is the Thameslink lines which are on a new structure.
About half way along the southern chord of the triangle, the new southern viaduct merges with the old structure and from that point westward the viaduct is widened on its north side, to then merge with the viaduct coming from Cannon Street. This required both the CX and TL lines to be slewed where the new structure switches sides.
The reason the busiest, south, side of the triangle only had two tracks to start with was because the original intention back in the 1860s had been for all trains to serve both termini, reversing at Cannon Street, and thus four tracks were provided on the sides of the triangle used by such trains, and only two on the line that bypassed Cannon Street.
This also explains why short platform lengths were provided at Charing Cross, as only small locomotives were expected to be used for the Charing Cross/ Cannon Street leg, with larger locomotives replacing them for the long haul when the trains reversed at Cannon Street.
@Timbeau: I thought it was only three? The original Blackfriars Road bridge is only three tracks wide…
Yup, correct, originally only three.
Bridge over Borough High Street (and east side of the triangle?) widened from three tracks to four in 1901.
Going back quite a long way in the comments, when I grew up in the sixties in Dulwich it was quite easy to walk along the Crystal Palace High Level trackbed from Lordship Lane (actually the wooden bridge on Cox’s Walk) most of the way to Crystal Palace, including through the southernmost tunnel – scary but fun as an eight year old! I think both tunnels are now firmly closed up and the High Level station site is housing, but re-opening up the tunnels and a lot of the route as a commuter cycle path, along the lines of the Sustrans Coombe Down / Two Tunnels scheme near Bath seems do-able and would provide a great traffic-free cycle route from Crystal Palace and Sydenham towards the City. Not quite a High Line park, but worthwhile?
I commend the Regents Canal as a great walk. I did it a few years back as part of a multistage walk from my home in Basingstoke to Walthamstow where my daughters live. From the Thames path I walked along part of the Brentford Branch of the Grand Union Canal, cutting the corner from Hanwell to Greenford using the Capital Ring path. Then I followed the Grand Union to Little Venice and the Regents Canal from there to Victoria Park, Hackney where the Hertford Union Canal links to the Lee Navigation. There’s really very little wrong with the Regents Canal as a great walking route. It could probably do with better signposting from adjacent streets, and also could probably do with a few more paths linking it to local centres. You have to walk over the hill at the Angel where the canal is in tunnel, but that’s not uninteresting either.
By the way, there are two official orbital paths around London. Both are signposted and shown on OS maps. The Capital Ring is the inner one and tends to wind its way through the suburbs. The London Loop is mostly out in the Green Belt.
B&T, I believe those tunnels are now protected due to their bat population and therefore can not be opened up to the public.
QRP
Put a “cage” through the tunnel, with the humans on the inside & the bats up top – problem solved….
@ Greg
That would only work if the humans inside can see their way in the dark, or if the bats can sleep in the light.
Bits of the Crystal Palace alignment form part of the Green Chain walk. TfL could make more of it by having the various walking maps directly available on the “Maps” link rather than having to find one’s winding way through the “More” link.
While the Legible London maps are very useful, I’m sure there could be other creative ways of encouraging longer distance walking, a great example of which came from DG this week in the form of recording progress every 10 minutes going in a roughly straight line for three hours.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1YIE7hfD9hfZ7t_CEcJJof07CMRreJPzS&ll=51.477812193421265%2C-0.015031099999987418&z=12
Timbeau
The important bit is that the bats are not disturbed.
If the tunnel is straight, it doesn’t matter, anyway
Re Greg and Timbeau,
Both tunnels are effectively straight and there is always “the light the end of the tunnel” visible during day time from the other end of the tunnel.
Converting the railway land in Camden is really idiotic. Any one who has used the Overground in this area knows just how over crowded it is. 4 track the North London Line again, provide more capacity, separate freight from passenger traffic.
We need a suitable transport system, not a vanity project.
Not sure I agree with Anonymous. Surely the point of the elevation is to allow the route to be both continuous and segregated from other traffic (in which I’d include bikes – the necessary amounts of testosterone apparently necessary for cycling survival in London mean that London cyclists rarely play nicely with pedestrians).
@silenos
Any old railway alignment is likely to be continuous and segregated – whether running above or below the street pattern or, as is usually the case in a hilly area like London, a bit of both.
Interesting. I grew up in Highgate and knew the Alexandra Palace Branch in it’s last days of steam and as a London Transport tube link for servicing tube stock.
Now living in NYC I worked for a number of years next to the High Line before it was created.
Many years of traffic delays lost commuters hours of their lives being denied a rail connection when the Alexandra Palace line was not included in the Northern Line.
The High Line as a Federal Rail Right of Way could have been converted to Light Rail providing a link from Penn Station to Battery Park along the West Side Highway. This is an area with no subway or good bus routes. City administrations firmly against the idea of streetcars/light rail ignored this idea.
In both cases Public Transportation options would have offered greater benefits than walkways.
The proposed Camden high line is another ‘better to stay as rail alignment’ scheme.
If it hadn’t been for funding restrictions, the North London line upgrades undertaken for the Overground and through freight would have included refurbishment of the disused part of the NLL 4-tracking and we would now be seeing freight and passenger trains on it.
Look ahead less than a decade from now, and the Network Rail Freight Planning Study (2017) is talking of needing considerable expenditure on cross-North London routes to accommodate continuing growth in Overground travel and allow core cross-London freight paths to be protected. (See Chapter 8 of the study.)
Also, it is the absence of the extra two tracks which prevents extension of ELL Overground trains to Camden (a major origin and destination) to reverse there. There is no doubt where the net utility is, including in environmental terms, with such scope to improve transport links for London’s benefit.
Another key issue with High Line-type conversions is access to them. Once upon a time steps would have been provided. Now fully accessible ramps would be required, which with each revision of the requirements have shallower angles and thus require more space and cost.
A look at just a few of recent footbridges provided at rail stations or across major roads shows such gargantuan structures are now needed that in a tight urban environment there would be instant opposition to them.
@Brian Berke….Re. Ally Pally, I couldn’t agree more 😔.
Incidentally, not sure if you were too young to remember at the time, but why didn’t the locals kick up more of a fuss at the time when the remaining Northern line extensions were cancelled and the line was shut?
@Anonymously: Because they liked their shiny new cars too much? 😉
My father, an Ally Pally commuter at the time, did indeed like his not-very-shiny new-to-him prewar car when he bought it for £140 five years after the line was shut, but he never used it for commuting to the City, which would have been almost as infeasible then as it is today. Sadly I cannot ask him why he did not “kick up a fuss” in spite of being (I know) displeased. At that time these decisions were taken by the powers-that-be, and I suspect that it did not occur to ordinary citizens that fuss-upkicking was an available option.
I agree with those who say that the Camden walk should not go ahead on the grounds that the disused trackbed should be put to railway use again. Indeed, the bottleneck west of Camden Road station needs to be sorted out by way of widening the viaduct to take four tracks to the junction, but that’s another discussion.
Is it too late for the Finsbury Park to East Finchley line to be reinstated? Would it be a worthwhile proposition? There was, I believe, a proposal to run some East London Line services up the Canonbury curve to Finsbury Park. These could, with some engineering work north of Finsbury Park, run to East Finchley. One problem would be the need to cross the North London Line between Dalston and Canonbury, but it would give a link from North to East London, and south of the Thames as well.
It’s interesting to see that ‘skyways’ are being mooted again. I remember when some big estates were built in South London, the buildings were connected by elevated footways. They were mostly, if not all, removed, on the grounds that criminal elements made much use of them for nefarious purposes.
I have used the elevated footways around the Barbican on several occasions — and got completely lost each time. Has anyone else had this experience?
Dr Paul
Unfortunately, it’s probably too late for Finsbury Pk – Northern heights in any form, now.
If only because you would have to terminate them somewhere to the South – Moorgate or KGX, um, err ……
And, now the Crossrail tunnels are there, you can’t extend the DLR up to Ally Pally, either, which would have been nice & balanced the services, without a central-London terminus.
Elevated walkways have another disadvantage – they are amazingly draughty as well, but they look pretty in non-engineering-trained Architects’ drawings .. 😡. And the same applies to elevated cycleways, only even more so ….
Telegraph 24/9 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/battle-tobuild-londons-highline-green-artery-camden-kings/
The western end of the proposed route begins on the north side of the North London Line above Kentish Town Road. Then it travels eastwards, to the north of Camden Road station, over several intact railway bridges, over Camley Street. It culminates on York Way, which leads into King’s Cross.
Living in Highgate I’ve occasionally promoted the idea in the distant past of rebuilding the Northern Heights route as a detour option whilst Camden Town gets rebuilt – temporarily leaving only Archway and Tufnell Park without any rail-based service for those few years. I’ve now admitted defeat 🙁
Aleks
And, if built would permanently block any possible re-4-tracking or unblocking/bottling of the NLL between Highbury & Camden Rd Jun …
A very bad idea
The major problems with all these highline type proposals is getting on and getting off. Looking at Google maps, while you can see that it might be possible to get decent access at Kentish Town Road, I couldn’t see any possibility for access east of Camley Street and nothing in between. It does tend to limit the value of the proposals, even leaving aside the desirability of covering such disused railways into active railways.
@quinlet – not to mention safety and, these days, security and privacy issues.
@GregT – I have expressed my support for reconnecting London’s dormant rail infrastructure at the risk of being coloured with crayons. The link is merely to alert readers to topical media coverage.
4 tracking is blocked permanently by the embankment supports at Westbourne Road that prevent platform 1’s track at Highbury being extended west. Perhaps some of the 1970s BR men could enlighten us on the backstory. GLC housing at Arundel Square?
There is zero prospect of the Northern Heights route being returned to rail use. Never mind the vociferous campaign that would ensue from those who live beside what would become a rail route there are rare bats roosting in the tunnels at Highgate High Level. The bats would win any battle with TfL or the Mayor to put tube trains back in those tunnels.
I visited Highgate High Level a long while ago and was under strict orders to not even touch the metal panels protecting the tunnel ends never mind open one!
Aleks
It’s 4-track to past Caledonian Road station ( Though one track is engineers-possession only, IIRC )
Or is there a very short stretch where you can only get 3 in?
Under the decking where the slew is from north pair to South. Third track is equipment under cover which could be relocated. Fourth South track holds decking.
Developer ‘purchased’ the embankments.
http://archive.westendextra.com/news/2011/may/architect-who-pulled-block-penthouse-flats-arundel-square-out-air
The problem with the Greenway is the significant amount of crime that is allowed to occur there. Cyclist magazine (easily googleable) reports “Dozens of cyclists mugged on one stretch of London cycle route”… “In the last seven months we know of 22 people who have had their bikes taken from them on the Greenway,”
The Greenway straddles a number of Wards and so is not the responsibility of any one district. It also has no post code and so does not show up as a blackspot on crime maps.
Article approx. a month old:
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/7277/dozens-of-cyclists-mugged-on-one-stretch-of-london-cycle-route
Camley Street Future Development – The Camden High Line makes a small appearance in the Camley Street Neighbourhood Plan published by Camden Council in July 2019. The eastern entrance to the High Line is on the northern end of Camley Street itself.
Competition launched to turn disused Camden Town rail viaduct into park.
“Design teams are being sought to transform a disused railway viaduct in London into a park and linear walk. The ‘Camden Highline’ project seeks design teams to transform the abandoned 1.1 km route between Camden Town and King’s Cross. Entries will need to incorporate vacant platforms at Camden Road station, with a number of access points along its route to connect it to road level.
“A spokesperson for project backer Colander Associates said: “Colander Associates is delighted to announce that it will be managing this high-profile competition on behalf of the Camden Highline Charity, to find an exceptional team to design a new park for London…“
“The competition is following a two-stage OJEU compliant process. At Stage 1, applications are invited in the form of an expression of interest. Up to five teams will be shortlisted to Stage 2 and will be asked to respond to an Invitation to Tender and attend an interview with a jury panel of industry experts. Stage 1 submissions are required by noon on 7 October 2020.”
The winner of the Camden High Line Competition has been announced.
“New York High Line designer to create raised park on disused railway in Camden.
“US studio James Corner Field Operations has won a competition to convert a kilometre-long section of disused railway in central London into “a garden in the sky” named the Camden Highline.
“Informed by the New York High Line, which was designed by James Corner Field Operations with US architecture studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the Camden Highline will run from Camden to King’s Cross.
“The London version of the highly successful New York linear park will be designed by James Corner Field Operations in collaboration with local studio vPPR Architects.”