Battersea Railway Bridge

Battersea Railway Bridge
Battersea Railway Bridge from the south west
Carries	Railway
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	London, England
Maintained by	Transport for London
Heritage status	Grade II* listed structure
Preceded by	Diamond Jubilee Footbridge (two shared piers - in construction)
Followed by	Battersea Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
Total length	230m (plus approaches)
Width	10.5m
Longest span	42.5m
Clearance below	6m (above MHWS)
History
Opened	2 March 1863
Statistics
Daily traffic	8 passenger trains per hour (05:45 - 23:30)

The Battersea Railway Bridge – originally called the Cremorne Bridge, after riverside public gardens in Chelsea – and formerly commonly referred to as the Battersea New Bridge – is a bridge across the River Thames in London, between Battersea and the extreme north-east part of Fulham — Chelsea Harbour or Imperial Wharf a 21st century-rebuilt area on the south side of a Chelsea Creek. The bridge is used by the West London Line of the London Overground from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction.

The bridge was designed by William Baker, chief engineer of the London and North Western Railway, and was opened on 2 March 1863 at a cost of £87,000 (equivalent to £7,500,000 in 2015). It carries two tracks and consists of five 120-foot (37 m) lattice girder arches set on stone piers.

A three-arch brick viaduct carries the line on the north side of the bridge, with one arch having been opened to provide a pedestrian route under the railway, as part of the Thames Path. On the south side are four arches, two of which are used as storage for the residents of a houseboat community moored immediately downstream. Completion of a plaza containing a residential/leisure tower, Lombard Wharf is scheduled for 2017 immediately south-west of the bridge. The plans for which have entailed re-opening an arch of the viaduct to provide a continuous boardwalk.

The bridge was strengthened and refurbished in 1969, and again in 1992. During a high tide in late 2003, the structure was struck by a refuse-barge damaging some lower structural elements significantly: repairs were completed in early 2004.

In November 2013, planning permission was granted for the Diamond Jubilee Footbridge, extending the two central piers of the bridge upstream.