| New Westminster Bridge | |
| Carries: | Freight and passenger trains Originally, trains and automobiles |
| Crosses: | Fraser River |
| Locale: | New Westminster Surrey |
| Owner: | Government of Canada |
| Maint: | Canadian National Railway |
| Design: | Swing bridge |
| Material: | Steel[1] |
| Capacity: | 60 trains per day[2] |
| Num Track: | 1 |
| Track Gauge: | (standard gauge) |
| Electrification: | No |
| Designer: | Waddel & Hedrick[3] |
| Material2: | Granite[4] |
| Length: | 2,400 ft (731.5 m) (not including approaches) [5] |
| Mainspan: | [6] |
| Spans: | 4 |
| Begin: | August 1902[7] |
| Open: | July 23, 1904[8] |
| Coordinates: | 49.2082°N -122.8942°W |
| Traffic: | 46 freight trains per day |
The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NSRW)[9] 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 Kansas City, and BNSF Railway having track usage rights,[9] 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.[10] It was originally built with two decks; the lower deck was used for rail traffic while the upper deck was used for automobile traffic.[11]
Crossing the river prior to the construction of the New Westminster Bridge required using the K de K ferry[12] 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 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.[13] 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.[14]
, the speed limit for trains was 11mph, which had been increased from .