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The viaduct, 2,014 ft (614m) long with 33 arches, carried the link between the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway with the the South West Main Line, and was in use for passenger traffic until 1960, and freight until 1966. The track also passed through a tunnel under St Giles Hill before reaching the station at Chesil Street, now the site of a multi-storey car park. Much of the disused railway land, including the Viaduct and the Tunnel, is owned by Winchester City Council. They have proposed to renovate the viaduct and build a footpath and cycle way along it, and to provide special ‘viewing platforms’ to enable pedestrians to look over the 6ft (1800mm) parapet walls. Access for the disabled would also be improved. Due to the high cost of this work, estimated recently at between £500,000 - £750,000, the City Council is unable to proceed without additional funding. Approaches to the National Lottery are very unlikely to succeed unless English Heritage agree to afford the structure ‘Listed’ status. Despite Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group having proved that the viaduct is the first of it’s kind to have a concrete core, and the efforts of The City of Winchester Trust, the future looks bleak for this historic and major feature of the landscape on the outskirts of the City, unless other sources of funding can be found.
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