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Since the second half of the 20th century and especially in territories where the train had been dependent on industrial development, there are many kilometres of disused railway lines setting a railway heritage of great interest. Nevertheless, the passage of time and the lack of use have led to many heritage elements being in danger of disappearing, if not having already disappeared. Furthermore, most of the actions for their protection, restoration or putting in value carried out until today, have focused on component item/element, instead of understanding the line as a territorial system, formed not only by the nodes but also by the connecting threads. This paper aims to analyze and characterize the disused railway heritage as a complex system, focusing on the methodology and tools. The way to address the issue attempts to avoid the decomposition of the system and favour the maintenance of the structuring nature that railway lines originally had in each territory, which is precisely one of the most important features to put them in value in the new territorial view of the 21th century. The paper develops the application of this methodology on a case study in southwest Europe: disused railway lines in the Basque-Navarre territory.

The disappearance of kilometers of railways that once structured their surrounding territory has become an alarming issue in the last decades. These days, several disused railway infrastructures have been converted into non-motorized transport infrastructures. Meanwhile, most of the railway nodes have been abandoned or reused without consideration of the linear infrastructure. This paper argues that former railway nodes can have potential in their surrounding environment and as part of a non-motorized transport axis, i.e., to again be nodes of the former linear infrastructure. Accordingly, the objective of the paper is to analyze the potential of disused railway nodes, focusing on the possibilities they could offer in the area, and defining future approaches for more sustainable development. For that purpose, relations between former railway nodes and their surrounding environment are studied considering transport and land use in the non-motorized influence areas. Existing node/place models were adapted and a multiaxial model was created to measure the balance between transport and land use and typify the defined area. The proposed methodology was applied in a case study, classifying node areas in different development typologies that will be related to different future approaches.

Many kilometres of railway lines are disused in territories where the railways had been dependent on industrial development. The current broad concept of heritage and its territorial character make the proposition of these lines as territorial structuring systems possible. Nevertheless, most of the actions for their protection, restoration or enhancement are fulfiled in some isolated elements, not attempting to understand the line as a territorial system that is formed not only by the nodes but also by the connecting thread. Furthermore, the passage of time and the lack of use have made many heritage elements be in danger of disappearing, if not already disappeared. In this regard, this article emphasizes that the analysis of the disused railway lines should be performed with a comprehensive vision in order to achieve the same results for their protection or for future interventions. This paper aims to create a GIS-based inventory and a comprehensive analysis method for the characterization and classification of disused railway lines of a territory, understanding them as complex systems. The way to address the issue is to avoid the decomposition of the system and favour the maintenance of the structuring nature that the railway lines originally had in each territory, which is one of the most important features for their possible reuse in the new territorial view of the 21st century. In this way, the proposed methodology has been applied on the disused railway lines of the Basque-Navarre territory.