Is There a Monorail in London?
The short answer: no. London has never had a passenger monorail. The longer answer covers the 1965 Wembley SAFEGE test track, the abandoned 1967 Docklands monorail proposal, and the modern light rail options that filled the gap.
London has no monorail. Looking for elevated automated transit? Try the Docklands Light Railway or the IFS Cloud Cable Car.
The DLR is the most monorail-like service in London: 45 driverless stations, mostly elevated, fully step-free. The Cable Car is the only aerial passenger system in the UK.
Closest alternatives to a London monorail
- Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
45 step-free driverless stations on elevated and at-grade track. The closest London has to a monorail experience.
- IFS Cloud Cable Car
Aerial gondola 90 m above the Thames between The O2 and ExCeL — UK's only urban cable car.
- London Tramlink
4 step-free tram routes around Croydon and Wimbledon — modern light rail at street level.
- London Light Rail Hub
Tramlink, DLR and Cable Car in one editorial guide.
The story — every monorail London nearly built
1965 · SAFEGE Wembley test track
In 1965 the French SAFEGE consortium built a short demonstration suspended monorail at Wembley Park to promote the technology to British transport authorities. The track was approximately 600 metres long, with a single rubber-tyred bogie running inside a hollow steel beam. It carried staff and engineering visitors only — never scheduled passengers — and was dismantled before the end of the decade.
1967 · Docklands monorail proposal
As the West India and Royal Docks declined, a 1967 transport study floated an elevated monorail to link the Isle of Dogs to the City. London Transport rejected the idea on cost and capacity grounds. The corridor eventually became the conventional light metro Docklands Light Railway, which opened in 1987 and now has 45 stations.
2012 · Cable Car instead of monorail
When TfL needed a new river crossing between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks for the 2012 Olympics, an aerial gondola was chosen over an elevated rail option. The result is the IFS Cloud Cable Car, the UK's only urban aerial passenger system.
Why London never adopted monorail
Monorails offer striking visual appeal but trade off network flexibility: switching tracks is mechanically complex, interchange with existing rail is impossible without transfer, and capacity per direction is usually below conventional light metro. London's planners — facing a dense legacy network of Underground, National Rail and surface routes — consistently picked technologies that could plug into the existing grid (DLR, Overground, Elizabeth line) over standalone monorail.
FAQs about London monorail
Is there a monorail in London?
No. London has never had a passenger monorail in public service. The closest equivalents today are the fully automated Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the IFS Cloud Cable Car (formerly Emirates Air Line) across the Thames — both light, elevated, driverless transit, but neither is technically a monorail.
Did London ever have a monorail?
Only experimentally. A short SAFEGE suspended monorail test track was built at Wembley Park in 1965 to demonstrate the technology, but it never carried scheduled passenger service and was dismantled within a few years. No public monorail line has ever operated in London.
Why didn't London ever build a monorail?
Several monorail proposals were floated — including a 1967 Docklands monorail study — but London's planners consistently chose conventional rail and light rail instead. The Docklands proposal evolved into the DLR (opened 1987), and the Greenwich Peninsula river crossing became the IFS Cloud Cable Car (2012). Both deliver similar elevated automated transit at lower cost and with broader network integration.
What is the closest thing to a monorail in London?
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is the closest equivalent: 45 fully step-free driverless stations on elevated and at-grade track across East London. For an aerial cable-supported ride, the IFS Cloud Cable Car crosses the Thames between The O2 and ExCeL in 5–10 minutes.
Are there any monorails near London?
The nearest operating monorails in the UK are small attraction monorails: the Beaulieu Monorail (Hampshire, ~95 miles south-west) and the Alton Towers SkyRide (Staffordshire, ~150 miles north). None operate as public transit.