Blackfriars Railway Bridge

Blackfriars Railway Bridge
The current Blackfriars Railway Bridge (on the left) and remains of the old bridge, viewed from the north bank of the Thames
Carries	Thameslink
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	London, England
Preceded by	Blackfriars Bridge
Followed by	Millennium Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Arch Bridge
History
Opened	1886

Coordinates: 51°30′35″N 0°06′12″W / 51.50972°N 0.10333°W / 51.50972; -0.10333

Blackfriars Railway Bridge is a railway bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and the Millennium Bridge.

There have been two structures with the name. The first bridge was opened in 1864 and was designed by Joseph Cubitt for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. Massive abutments at each end carried the railway's insignia, preserved and restored on the south side. Following the formation of the Southern Railway in 1924, inter-city and continental services were concentrated on Waterloo, and St Paul's Station became a local and suburban stop. For this reason, the use of the original bridge gradually declined. It eventually became too weak to support modern trains, and was therefore removed in 1985 – all that remains is a series of columns crossing the Thames and the southern abutment, which is a Grade II listed structure.

The second bridge, built slightly further downstream (to the east), was originally called St Paul's Railway Bridge and opened in 1886. It was designed by John Wolfe-Barry and Henry Marc Brunel and is made of wrought iron. It was built by Lucas & Aird. When St Paul's railway station changed its name to Blackfriars in 1937 the name of the bridge was changed as well.