Staines Railway Bridge

Staines Railway Bridge is a railway viaduct in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, around 17.25 mi west of central London. It carries the Waterloo to Reading line across the Thames. Immediately to the east is Thames Street bridge, which carries the railway over the B376 and the Thames Path.

History
An act of parliament was granted in 1853, authorising the Staines, Wokingham and Woking railway (SWWR) to build a line between Staines and Wokingham railway stations. Construction of the Staines Railway Bridge, across the River Thames, was completed in 1856. The SWWR merged with the London and South Western Railway in 1878. The line across the viaduct was electrified in 1937.

Staines Railway Bridge was designed by John Gardner and cost £10,000 to build. It is constructed of wrought iron girders supported on six cast iron pillars, embedded in the river bed. The main span is 88 ft wide and the total length of the bridge is 279 ft. It is 35 mi upstream of London Bridge.

During the Second World War, the line was used to transport supplies to Portsmouth Naval Base and the bridge was guarded by a dedicated army platoon of around 25 soldiers. In 1995, the viaduct was painted bright yellow in a £15,000 experimental project to prevent swans from flying into it.

Thames Street bridge
The adjacent Thames Street bridge, which carries the railway over the B376 and the Thames Path, was named in 2021 as one of the country's ten railway bridges most likely to be struck by vehicles.