The Mission Railway Bridge is a

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

bridge spanning the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

between

Mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

, and Abbotsford,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Replacing an earlier bridge built in 1891, which was the first and only bridge crossing of the Fraser below Siska in the

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

until the construction of the

New Westminster rail bridge The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NWRB) or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The bridge is ...

in 1904, it was constructed in 1909 by the

(CPR). The Mission Railway Bridge is supported by 13 concrete piers and is approximately in length. Before completion of the Mission highway bridge, highway traffic to and from Matsqui and Abbotsford with Mission used the bridge as a one-way alternating route, with traffic lights at either end to control direction. Rail traffic often held up car crossings, causing long and often very lengthy waits, which were a part of daily life in the Central Valley until the new bridge was completed. Beneath the bridge's north abutment is an important

river-level gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test surface water, terrestrial bodies of water. hydrometry, Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevat ...

monitored during the annual Fraser

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

. The bridge is also the location of the end of the Fraser's

tidal bore A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's cu ...

- downstream from the bridge the river is increasingly influenced by tidal influences from the Georgia Strait. The bridge has a speed limit of .

Swing span

The Mission Railway Bridge has a swing span which has a vertical clearance of above the water when closed. The swing span is fitted atop a circular concrete pier, the tenth from the north bank of the river. This pier is protected from shipping traffic by two extending upstream and downstream, respectively, perpendicular to the bridge which are tapered at both ends. The navigation channel past the bridge is in width. At night, a fixed white light is displayed on piers 9 and 11 as well as at the upriver and downriver ends of the protection pier. The majority of marine traffic consists of log tows and gravel

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s, which are permitted to use the navigation channel beneath the fixed span between piers 5 and 6. The swing span is used for wood chip barges and other vessels which cannot navigate beneath the span between piers 5 and 6. CPR maintains a bridge tender 24 hours per day at an office on the north bank of the bridge. Vessels requesting passage through the swing span contact the bridge tender on

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-ai ...

, whereby the tender walks the bridge to a control booth situated on the swing span.

Usage

Although the Mission Railway Bridge is not a part of the nearby CPR main line, it has important roles in preserving and increasing the capacity of the British Columbia rail network. The bridge is at the southern endpoint of the

directional running A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

zone (DRZ). The DRZ converts the bidirectional, mostly single-track transcontinental main lines of CPR and

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CNR) into a pair of one-way railways that run in opposite directions. The CPR and CNR main lines are located primarily on opposite sides of the Fraser River and

Thompson River The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The river ...

throughout the DRZ, exchanging sides at the Cisco Bridges in Siska. Loaded trains carrying freight for export to the

Port of Vancouver The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...

run southbound (westbound) through Matsqui/Abbotsford on the flatter CNR line near the eastern bank of the river. Empty trains and lighter cargo (

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode ...

s and automobiles) go back northbound (eastbound) through Mission on the hillier CPR line near the western bank of the river. Northbound CNR trains leaving the

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

area cross the bridge to join the CPR tracks in the Fraser Canyon, while southbound CPR trains use the CNR tracks in the Fraser Canyon before crossing the bridge to rejoin the CPR tracks heading toward Greater Vancouver. This arrangement more than triples the train capacity over the Fraser Canyon corridor. The Mission Railway Bridge also experiences increased usage because of the co-production agreement between CPR and CNR to improve traffic flows around the Port of Vancouver. The agreement seeks to reduce capacity pressures at the

New Westminster Bridge The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NWRB) or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The bridge is ...

, and to avoid increases in

rail traffic caused by freight

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

s at New Westminster Yard and the

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

s in

Sapperton, New Westminster Sapperton is a neighbourhood within the City of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, located in the northeastern part of the city, which borders the areas of Coquitlam and Burnaby. It is located on the slope above the Fraser River, which is ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Instead of using those smaller yards, interchange occurs between CPR's Coquitlam Yard in

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders ...

and CNR's Thornton Yard in

Port Mann Port Mann townsite was created in 1911 in the municipality of Surrey, British Columbia. The new town was to adjoin the new railway yard and roundhouse forming the terminus of the new trans-national rail-line operated by Canadian Northern Railway. ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, which are the companies' primary rail yards in the Vancouver metropolitan area. The normal route between Coquitlam Yard and Thornton Yard is to run a short distance westbound to the New Westminster Bridge, and then continue another short distance eastbound on the other side of the Fraser River to the other company's yard. However, the co-production agreement has interswitching trains making a longer detour. An interswitching train travels about on its company's main line eastbound to cross the Fraser River at the Mission Railway Bridge, and then runs about that same amount of distance on the other company's main line westbound to that company's yard.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 49, 07, 33, N, 122, 18, 00, W, display=title Railway bridges in British Columbia Canadian Pacific Railway bridges in Canada Bridges over the Fraser River Bridges completed in 1909 Swing bridges in Canada

Swing span

Usage

See also

References

Bibliography