Carries Illawarra railway line Opened 26 December 1885 | Closed 26 November 1972 | |
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Carry Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line Similar Georges River, Woronora River Bridge, Alfords Point Bridge, Como railway station - S, Tom Uglys Bridge | ||
Como railway bridge
The Como Railway Bridge carries the Illawarra railway line across the Georges River between the Sydney suburbs of Oatley and Como.
Contents
The original como railway bridge
First bridge
The original Como Railway Bridge opened on 26 December 1885 as part of the extension of the Illawarra railway line from Hurstville to Sutherland. It was a single track lattice truss bridge designed by John Whitton, the Chief Engineer of the New South Wales Government Railways. The double tracks converged to a single gauntlet track on the bridge, which enabled trains to cross in either direction without points. When the rest of the line was duplicated, it became a major bottleneck.
Between 1935 and 1942, the Metropolitan Water Sewerage & Drainage Board built two 60 centimetre diameter pipelines to pump water from the recently completed Woronora Dam to the reservoir at Penshurst. The pipeline was supported on new steel outriggers cantilevered from the main girders.
Second bridge
To relieve the bottleneck, a new double track reinforced concrete bridge immediately to the west opened on 27 November 1972. The original bridge reopened as a cycleway on 15 December 1985.
