An elevated railway (known in Europe as overhead railway) is a form of rapid transit railway with the tracks built above street level on some form of viaduct or other steel or concrete structure. The railway concerned may be constructed according to the standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or suspension railway system. Elevated railways are usually used in urban areas where otherwise there would be a large number of level crossings.
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The earliest example of an elevated railway was the London and Greenwich Railway which was built on a brick viaduct of 878 arches between 1836 and 1838. Various other lines were proposed for London during the 1840s but were never implemented.[1]
From the late 1860s elevated railways became popular in US cities. The New York West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway operated with cable cars from 1868 to 1870, but thereafter was locomotive hauled. This was followed by the Manhattan Railway in 1875, the Boston Elevated Railway (1887-), and the South Side Elevated Railroad, Chicago (1892-). The Berlin Stadtbahn (1882) is also principally on elevated track.
The first electrically-operated elevated railway, was the Liverpool Overhead Railway, which operated through Liverpool docks from 1893 until 1956.
During the 1890s there was some interest in suspension railways, particularly in Germany, with the Schwebebahn Dresden, (1891-) and the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (1901). Two further H-Bahn suspension railways were built in Dortmund and Düsseldorf airport, 1975. The Memphis Suspension Railway was opened in 1982.
Most monorail transport systems are also elevated railways, such as the Disneyland Monorail System (1959), the Tokyo Monorail (1964), or the Metro Monorail, Sydney (1988-). Maglev railways are also elevated.