CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 17years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
“
Council proposals for new housing on the former Powderhall waste-transfer site at 165 Broughton Rd have temporarily stalled.
Two key applications have been withdrawn.
“
https://broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/powderhall-plans-delayed
Unknown if it will have any effect on ‘plans’ for the path to Meadowbank.
“
Some projects were listed as ‘on hold’ with no completion date, such as active travel works on the Powderhall Railway in Broughton.
“
“
They are creating another studio and hub at Powderhall Stables as part of the mixed-use redevelopment on the former council waste site.
“
https://www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/turning-a-city-lighthouse-into-a?
“
Powderhall / Leith Walk / Easter Road / Meadowbank path negotiations continue between Edinburgh Council & Network Rail Scotland, & assessments have taken place on the bridges down the route.
However we're a whiles until any spade can hit the ground. The funding picture was answered back in Feb too.
“
https://bsky.app/profile/jackrmcaldwell.bsky.social/post/3mjhtenlkp224
Click link for more details
“
We will also support efforts to bring the former Powderhall railway line into use as a new walking and cycling route in the capital.
“
P66 SNP Manifesto
https://issuu.com/hinksbrandwise/docs/snp_manifesto_the_scottish_parliament_election_2/5?ff
They're already in power! So why didn't they start this 10 years ago, when this thread started?
Good Q
I think over that time there have been various people punting the idea including Cllrs (various parties).
Enough to get CEC to do some work.
Being in the Manifesto is obviously important as SG has two roles - (potential) funding source and also owner of Scotland’s Railway.
Worth contacting relevant MSPs after election.
why didn't they start this 10 years ago, when this thread started?
If you asked for a straight answer then they could say that, as far as they could see, looking at it by and large, taking one thing with another, in terms of the average of other travel projects, then in the final analysis it is probably true to say that at the end of the day, in general terms, they would probably find that not to put too fine a point on it, there probably wasn't very much for it one way or the other then, as now, as far as they could see at this stage.
"...but, but, the A9..."
Just been skimming through this whole thread.
I’d forgotten the level of ‘behind the scenes’ work/lobbying done by many people (some CCEers some not).
I’d also completely forgotten the level of optimism about some action being possible/probable 7/8 YEARS AGO.
Being in the SNP Manifesto ought to be significant??
Found this -
“
Some good news regarding the Powderhall Railway Path. CEC have secured Sustrans funding for a feasibility study to look into developing the disused railway solum into an active travel corridor.
The funding comes from the Sustrans Places For Everyone programme. The council will appoint a consultant to undertake the feasibility study and we understand a stakeholder workshop will follow during the earliest stages of project development, which will hopefully be in the near future.
More updates will appear here as and when further information is available.
“
Posted October 11, 2019
Anyone know anything more?
It’s a pity the Powderhall route is more sub than High, but I think there needs to be more ambition than ‘buy, add tarmac and lights’
https://www.camdenhighline.com
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/castlefield-viaduct
For comparison, this is the linear park now that is the ex-railway Castlefield viaduct:
and there is plenty of scope to extend it further towards Pomona:
Manchester of course also has a highly functional and well constructed tram network using former heavy rail routes and on-street running.
Only just caught up with this
LOTS of interesting content (and pages of box ticking tedium)
“
Jacobs
Feasibility Study
Powderhall Railway Path
“
https://edinburgh.axlr8.uk/documents/47593/Powderhall%20Stage%201%20-%20Rev%202%20-%20Final%20R.pdf
Previous stuff
02/2017
“
The Powderhall railway branch line from Piershill is only used by refuse trains, so permanent closure of the plant leaves the track bed available for conversion to a multi-use/cycle path, subject to negotiations between CEC and Network Rail (NR). For cyclists and walkers this raises the exciting prospect of a traffic-free link south-eastwards from the extensive North Edinburgh path network. From Warriston allotments the new route, with intermediate access points, would go under Broughton Road, Leith Walk and Easter Road to Lochend Park. From there it’s only a short distance to the semi-tropical delights of Holyrood Park and beyond. The future of the Lochend–Piershill section of the line is unclear. A huge new development is planned for the eastern part of the Meadowbank site and, ideally, the new path would connect there. Although NR seems currently to favour retaining the option of a future Abbeyhill–Piershill loop line, this does not necessarily exclude a path link as well.—Tim Smith
“
https://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/sites/default/files/backissues/Spurtle%20259%20Final.pdf
12/2017
“
Cllr Susan Rae (Leith Walk) has received confirmation that the former Powderhall railway line remains safeguarded as a cycleway footpath in the Edinburgh Local Development Plan, and is a proposed QuietRoute within CEC’s 2016 Active Travel Plan. Proposals will be brought forward alongside development of the sites at Powderhall and Meadowbank, and Planning Convener Lesley Macinnes is already seeking talks with Network Rail.
“
“
SLOW PROGRESS ON POWDERHALL RAILWAY PATH
Submitted by Editor on Thu, 06/12/2018 - 11:32
The Powderhall Railway Path Working Group met Leith Central Community Council’s Vice Chair and CEC officials from Active Travel and Housing yesterday.
PRPWG comprises local residents keen to create a useful new East–West footway/cycle route on redundant track between Powderhall and Meadowbank. The meeting was to discuss next steps.
The line is owned by Network Rail, and DB Cargo UK has a contract to operate freight services on it until 2019, even though Powderhall has closed as a waste transfer station.
At yesterday’s meeting, officials agreed to undertake a scoping study. This will examine issues around surveying the route, land ownership, and the DB Cargo contract.
PRPWG hopes to get Network Rail to agree in principle to parting with the line. With such an agreement in place, an approach could then be made to Sustrans for funding a feasibility study.
Progress is slow, and obstacles ahead include: Network Rail’s potential wish to run trains on the Abbeyhill Loop; concerns on all sides not to get lumbered with very expensive repairs to bridges and embankments; unresolved questions about access and ownership along parts of the proposed route and at the far end of St Mark’s Park.
Interested parties will meet again in February, before officials report to the Council’s North East Localities Committee in March.
“
https://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/slow-progress-powderhall-railway-path
“
“Green infrastructure in cities matters. Finding space for it is rare. And battling through the treacle to make projects like this happen is difficult, lengthy, and expensive. Which is why today’s announcement is so painful to make.”
“
Just catching up with ‘old stuff’
“
Ben Macpherson SNP for Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith
6 May at 12:02 · Edinburgh
Local SNP manifesto link, including that we/the SNP will support efforts to bring the former Powderhall railway line into use as a new walking and cycling route in the capital.
https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/www.snp.org/uploads/2026/04/2026-04-27b-SNP-EDINBURGH-4pp.pdf
“
From last Sept
“
In the meantime, Councillor Caldwell is continuing to engage with Network Rail Scotland regarding some of the maintenance concerns on the boundary and bridges. He is also continuing to engage with Council officers to try and get this project done.
.”
https://www.edinburghlibdems.org/news/article/update-on-the-powderhall-railway-line-path
This is relevant as it would be a ‘destination’ on an ‘open’ Powderhall line path. (The rail line continues to Jock’s Lodge but it seems likely that continuing past Lochend will be even more problematic than the rest of the route from St Mark’s Park)
https://www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/the-history-and-tragedy-of-lochends
This is partly based on the Threadinburgh thread about the loch at Lochend by Andy Arthur -
Some interesting photos from 2016 when line still in use (mostly taken from bridges)
Contrasts with 10 years of naturally regeneration since if you go to same viewpoints
https://web.archive.org/web/20250119193234/https://elrcl.co.uk/index.php/shrubhill-to-powderhall/
(Slow to load)
…
From consultation on new housing development
“
Need to future proof access - cycle path on adjacent railway. Ramps to be built in future.
Cycle path may move at different speed from Powderhall development but access should be future proofed in-case acquisition of network rail land is delayed.
“
And now there’s a new website
“
Prominent local safer-cycling campaigners have are pushing for the former railway line running from Lochend to Powderhall to be opened to the public. - Read more on Powderhall.Link (https://www.edinburghminute.com/)
“
Things are moving
http://www.powderhall.link/2026/06/14/active-travel-plans-for-capital-rail-line-backed-by-minister/
“
Leith SNP minister Ben Macpherson has backed a campaign for the former railway line between Lochend and Powderhall to be opened to the public. - Sarah Challen Flynn, The National.
Read more about the campaign on http://www.Powderhall.Link
“
Thanks Chris for your updates & the website
Amazing that its 40 years since we had the running battles with feral natives at Pilton as I worked for Sustrans on this with a gang of the Bristol team chugging between Ferry Road and Granton Road
As with many paths we built then, we used a basic drybound 'macadam' with a layer of finer 'dust' to blind the surface as a smooth pavement to roll over, at a fraction of the cost compared to tarmac
The figures quoted seem to be jaw dropping, compared to how we were building pavements on minimal budgets 40 years ago
For a start the curve from Abbeyhill Station to the East (long gone) may still have a long term value as a resilience detail between Craigentinny and Waverley especially if the commuting/local services need more train paths from the Borders (via Portobello) & for Berwick/North Berwick
I'd also note options for other uses that can complement the cycle route - with Sustrans we did deals to run broadband fibre cable alongside the path (faster & cheaper than digging up the road)
The route does offer a flatter profile than climbing Leith Walk and goes under some busy roads, with a possible route off the line where the road drops down from Regent Road to Holyrood
From the tenor of Ben McPherson's speech I wonder if this indicates a move to revive the Community Programme deal as a route to training & employment, working 21 hours per week (3 days) in place of signing on as unemployed. Sustrans were a bit smarter than many of the schemes and brought 60% of the allocated workforce in for 5 days a week....so the projects progressed faster but the participants gained skills and vacancies for work
My work also delivered the 16 miles of the old railway as a cycle route for 10 years, but then enabled it to reopen as a railway so a huge resource that can be used in so many ways here especially avoiding the direct use of the die straight alignment of the rails & creating a path that meanders between wide verges, providing long range visibility, without creating a 'drag-racing' strip for high speeds
Careful placing of seats and features can also break-up the monotony of just running the path straight along the railway alignment - room for one of Mr Gormley's cast iron figures?
Yep
Thanks for all that
Useful ‘history’ for those who weren’t around 40 years ago…
Your ‘design’ is pretty much what I hope will happen. Tarmac one day perhaps, but get it used first (and faster)
40 years since the Pilton Path
Next year is 50 years since the origins of Sustrans (as Cyclebag) - a photographic history, Spokes and EBC
Time for another path (or .Link) project…
“
Motion by Councillor Booth
City of Edinburgh Council
25 June 2026
Powderhall rail line – SNP manifesto commitment
Supporting Information
Council:
1.1 Notes that negotiations with Network Rail have been ongoing for some time over the Powderhall Rail Line, and in particular whether the council could either acquire ownership of the former railway line or secure a legal right of access to allow a new active travel route to be delivered;
1.2 Notes the Powderhall Railway Path feasibility study was completed by Jacobs and published on 23 January 2023, which concludes that the estimated construction cost would start at around £4.7m (which does not cover the cost of landscaping and placemaking options, or the railway works required by Network Rail).
1.3 Notes that in City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme Prioritisation report to Transport and Environment Committee on 22 May 2025, this project was agreed to proceed “with land negotiations and related work only with the aim of moving towards a project that is deliverable in a reasonable / predictable timescale”.
1.4 Notes the responses from the Transport and Environment Convenor to questions from Cllr Caldwell at full council on 5 February 2026 and 19 March 2026 on progress to deliver this project.
1.5 Notes ongoing maintenance concerns impacting residents along the railway line.
1.6 Notes the commitment in the SNP 2026 Holyrood manifesto to “support efforts to bring the former Powderhall railway line into use as a new walking and cycling route in the capital.”
Proposed Action/Decision
Council agrees:
2.1 That the Transport Convenor will write to the new Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport, asking what form their offer of support will take, whether they will engage with the council and Network Rail in the ongoing constructive negotiations to facilitate the transfer of the line to the council, and whether funding will be made available by the Scottish Government to facilitate the next steps in realisation of the project.
2.2 That the response to that letter from the Scottish Government will be circulated to Transport and Environment committee members and ward councillors, and included as an appendix to the next Transport and Environment Committee business bulletin;
2.3 That a progress update will be included as part of in the annual CMP CIP update report coming to Transport and Environment Committee in the autumn, as previously agreed.
Moved by: Councillor Chas Booth
Seconded by: Councillor Jack Caldwell
“
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts