Idea for reusing Mail Rail tunnels

[Shimbleshanks]

Someone has won a green competition with an idea for reusing the Mail Rail (Post Office Underground Railway) tunnels to grow mushrooms. Not quite sure what the light ducts idea is - I always thought mushrooms grew best in total darkness, but I'm no expert.

http://londonist.com/2012/10/mail-rail-fungus-tunnel-wins-london-high-line-competiton.php

Mail Rail Fungus Tunnel Wins London High Line Competiton

A winner has been chosen for a competition seeking new green ideas for London. Fletcher Priest Architects won the High Line competition, named after New York’s famous linear park, with a design that melds abandoned rail tunnels, glass fibre sculptures and a fungal garden.

“Pop Down” would reuse the old Mail Rail tunnels, 9 foot-wide tubes for the transport of mail, which run just north of Oxford Street and were mothballed a decade ago. The underground garden would be lit via fibre optic ducts up to the surface, where sculptural glass mushrooms would harvest light, allowing real fungi to grow down below. The concept of an underground park fed by surface light isn’t a new one, and resembles a slimdown version of New York’s proposed Low Line.

(read more)

 

[tsr]

I have an idea for the reuse of the Mail Rail system. Believe it or not, it's called Mail Rail!

 

[telstarbox]

I think the proposal to turn the Regent's Canal into a swim-to-work route is even better!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2012/oct/10/london-lidoline-commuters-swim-work-canal

London 'LidoLine' could allow commuters to swim to work

While Copenhagen has its Harbour Baths, Paris has its Plages on the Seine, and Basel hosts the annual Rhine Swim, the thought of wild swimming along London's waterways might be somewhat less appealing.

Not to Alex Smith and David Lomax of young design practice Y/N Studio, who have conceived a project to transform a stretch of the Regent's Canal into a swimmable commuting route.

"The canals used to be functional routes for industry, but now they've become purely recreational," says Smith. "We thought, why not turn the waterways back into something useful, connecting people with the places they work?" (read more)

 

[Bungle73]

I think the proposal to turn the Regent's Canal into a swim-to-work route is even better!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2012/oct/10/london-lidoline-commuters-swim-work-canal

Except that it's completely impractical and seems like the "brains" behind it haven't thought about it for more than a millisecond.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I have an idea for the reuse of the Mail Rail system. Believe it or not, it's called Mail Rail!

Yes I agree with you, it would reduce lorries going through Central London. I presume that it was closed down owing to money problems, it would be good if they could look into reusing this service again which I think went from Holborn or City of London area towards Paddington, was there also a branch to Liverpool Street and Waterloo? Does any mail get transported at all by the mainline railroutes these days? again if not, perhaps it should be.

Were 1 & 3 issued on an April Fool's day by any chance?

 

[sprinterguy]

Does any mail get transported at all by the mainline railroutes these days?

GB Railfreight re-introduced mail trains to the West Coast main line a few years ago. The contract for this work has since passed to DB Schenker, who operate mail services between Willesden (London), Warrington and Sheildmuir (Glasgow). Trains have also operated between Low Fell on the ECML and Willesden during busy periods, such as Christmas. If I remember rightly the rail traffic is limited to only certain types of mail - Possibly first class items only.

 

[Yew]

I agree that Bringing back the mail rail could be a good idea, or even if its just as an underground road system, those tunnels look big enough for an airport baggage train to fit down?

If they called at euston and St Pancras I would be suggesting an underground travellator

 

[Johnuk123]

I agree that Bringing back the mail rail could be a good idea, or even if its just as an underground road system, those tunnels look big enough for an airport baggage train to fit down?

If they called at euston and St Pancras I would be suggesting an underground travellator

The reason that they probably don't want to invest in mail rail is that in the near future physical mail will be in short supply.

 

[Drsatan]

The reason that they probably don't want to invest in mail rail is that in the near future physical mail will be in short supply.

Mind you, there will still be a need to transport parcels and other bulky items; to the best of my knowledge, the amount of parcels transported by Royal Mail and other parcel companies has increased considerably in the past 10 years owing to the popularity of internet shopping.

Hopefully, Mail Rail might be reopened to transport parcels across London, with other parcel companies paying a fee to use it. This will, I can imagine, only ever happen if diesel becomes prohibitively expensive, in which case an electric lorry might be used to transport parcels from the sorting depot to the recepients.

The Mail Rail is still in situ: a group of urban explorers managed to access the tunnels and confirmed that the rolling stock and three of the stations are still in situ (the others having been closed due to lack of demand). You can read about this here