Contents

New Westminster Bridge

New Westminster Bridge
Coordinates	49°12′29″N 122°53′39″W / 49.208167°N 122.894204°W / 49.208167; -122.894204 (New Westminster Bridge)
Carries	Freight and passenger trains Originally, trains and automobiles
Crosses	Fraser River
Locale	New Westminster Surrey
Owner	Government of Canada
Maintained by	Canadian National Railway
Characteristics
Design	Swing bridge
Material	Steel[1]
Pier construction	Granite[1]
Total length	2,400 ft (731.5 m) (not including approaches) [1]
Longest span	380 ft (120 m)[2]
No. of spans	4
Clearance below	22 ft (6.7 m)[3]: 38
Capacity	60 trains per day[4]
Rail characteristics
No.oftracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Electrified	No
History
Designer	Waddel & Hedrick[1]
Construction start	August 1902[1]
Opened	July 23, 1904[1]
Statistics
Daily traffic	46 freight trains per day[4]
Location

The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NSRW)^[3] or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

The bridge is owned by the Government of Canada, operated and maintained by the Canadian National Railway, with the Southern Railway of British Columbia (SRY), Canadian Pacific Railway, and BNSF Railway having track usage rights,^[3] as do Amtrak's Cascades (with service to Portland and Seattle) and Via Rail's The Canadian (with service to Toronto).

The New Westminster Bridge was constructed in 1904 and formally opened on July 23 by the Lieutenant governor of British Columbia.^[1] It was originally built with two decks; the lower deck was used for rail traffic while the upper deck was used for automobile traffic.^[5]

Crossing the river prior to the construction of the New Westminster Bridge required using the K de K ferry^[6] which would dock at the present day neighbourhood of South Westminster (formerly the historic community of Brownsville) located in the city of Surrey.

The toll for the upper bridge was 25 cents^{[citation needed]} and created quite an uproar for farmers who found out quickly that by taking their livestock across on foot would cost them a quarter a head but if they put them in a truck it cost a quarter for the whole load.

The bridge was the preferred method of transport across the Fraser until the opening of the Pattullo Bridge in 1937. The upper deck was removed and the bridge was converted exclusively for rail use. On May 29, 1982, a significant fire broke out on the New Westminster Bridge.^[7] On November 28, 1987, a barge struck the bridge. The resulting legal action of Canadian National Railway Co. v. Norsk Pacific Steamship Co. became a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision.^[8]

As of 2004^[update], the speed limit for trains was 11 miles per hour (18 kilometres per hour), which had been increased from 8 mph (13 km/h).^[3]: 38

• List of crossings of the Fraser River
• List of bridges in Canada

• Media related to New Westminster Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
• Archival photos of the bridge from the New Westminster Public Library