Page 287 - Beyond Decommissioning

268 Beyond Decommissioning

Fig. 6.51 Manhattan High Line.
Copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario, photo source: Ontario Growth Secretariat, Ministry of
Municipal Affairs.

Similar to the High Line is London’s Parkland Walk, UK. A railway line was
opened in 1867. In the 1930s London Underground had made plans for the linking
of this line with the Northern Line, but WWII stopped the ongoing work. After WWII
rail development was abandoned but passenger trains continued until 1954, when Brit
ish Railways ended the service. However, tracts of the line serviced cargo traffic until
mid 1960s. Later the line was still being used to transport some materials. But in 1970
the conditions of a few bridges had deteriorated to the extent that no further use of the
line remained possible. Then most platforms and station buildings were demolished. A
4-km section of the line, after major re-surfacing and facilitation of access, became the
Parkland Walk in 1984. The walk was proclaimed a conservation area in 1990. It sup-
ports a wide range of habitats. Two hundred species of wild flower have been
recorded; hedgehogs, foxes, butterflies and birds are spotted on a daily basis and
the rare barking deer is occasionally seen (Haringey, 2017).