Grosvenor Bridge

Grosvenor Bridge, also known as Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge crossing the River Thames in London between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. First built in 1860 and then widened in 1865 and 1907, it was extensively rebuilt and expanded in the 1960s, now consisting of ten parallel bridges with eight tracks running across.

The original bridge came together in two stages in the mid-1800s. It was built between 1859 and 1860 by the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway for £84,000, carrying two tracks into Victoria Station. Designed by engineer Sir John Fowler, it was notably the first railway bridge to span the Thames in central London.

A few years later, between 1865 and 1866, the bridge was widened to accommodate four more tracks on its eastern side, serving the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. This upgrade cost £245,000, with Sir Charles Fox leading the engineering work.

In 1907, the bridge got another expansion with a single track added on its western side, also for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

The bridge underwent a major overhaul between 1963 and 1967, with the structure completely revamped, though the cores of the original piers were left intact. A tenth track was added, taking over a previously used space for gas mains. To keep things running smoothly, each track was replaced one at a time and reopened before the next one was shut down. The redesign was handled by Freeman Fox & Partners, with A. H. Cantrell, the Southern Region of British Rail's chief civil engineer, overseeing the project. By 1968, it was said to be the busiest railway bridge in the world, with 1,000 trains crossing daily.