Dumbarton Rail Bridge

Dumbarton Rail Bridge
Dumbarton Rail Bridge in 2003.
Coordinates	37°29′35″N 122°06′59″W / 37.493137°N 122.116478°W / 37.493137; -122.116478Coordinates: 37°29′35″N 122°06′59″W / 37.493137°N 122.116478°W / 37.493137; -122.116478
Carries	single-track railway
Crosses	San Francisco Bay (Newark Slough)
Other name(s)	Dumbarton Point Bridge Dumbarton Bridge
Named for	Dumbarton Point
Owner	SamTrans
Characteristics
Design	Pratt through-truss with central swing Pennsylvania (Petit) through-truss span, timber trestle approaches on east and west
Total length	8,058 feet (2,456 m)   (including approaches & Newark Slough Bridge) 1,390 feet (420 m)   (steel structure)
Longest span	310 feet (94 m)
No. of spans	7, excluding approaches
History
Designer	William Hood
Constructed by	Southern Pacific
Construction start	c.1907
Construction end	June 1910
Construction cost	US$3,500,000 (equivalent to $90,000,000 in 2016)
Inaugurated	September 12, 1910 (1910-09-12)
Collapsed	1998
Closed	1982
Dumbarton Rail Bridge Location in San Francisco Bay Area

Just to the south of the Dumbarton road bridge lies the Dumbarton Rail Bridge. Built in 1910, the rail bridge was the first structure to span San Francisco Bay, shortening the rail route between Oakland and San Francisco by 26 miles (42 km). The last freight train traveled over the bridge in 1982, and it has been proposed since 1991 to reactivate passenger train service (connecting Caltrain on the Peninsula with ACE, BART and the Capitol Corridor in the East Bay) to relieve traffic on the road bridges. Part of the western timber trestle approach collapsed in a suspected arson fire in 1998.

The Dumbarton Rail Bridge (then known as the Dumbarton Point Bridge or, simply, Dumbarton Bridge; one of the major structures of the Dumbarton Cut-off rail line) was championed by E. H. Harriman. Prior to the completion of the Dumbarton Cut-off, transcontinental rail freight was offloaded at Oakland and ferried to San Francisco. Preliminary work started in 1904 with the condemnation of land at Dumbarton Point, and the incorporation of the Central California Railway Company, created by several Southern Pacific officers for the sole purpose of building a rail line from Newark to San Mateo. There was some opposition to the bridge from local business groups, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers held a public hearing in August 1906 inviting public feedback on the plans for the bridge. Henry Rengstorff argued the bridge would impede water traffic, which was needed as an alternate route in case of a railroad strike or natural disaster, such as the recent earthquake.