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In the mid-19th century, Montreal's location would have lost some of its importance if it had not had a permanent, year-round rail link with the Eastern Seaboard. The Grand Trunk, a British company formed with the support of the Canadian government to connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic, would achieve the great feat of building the first bridge, a railway one, over the St. Lawrence River.

The Victoria Bridge, built between 1854 and 1859 and inaugurated by the Prince of Wales in 1860, was the crucial piece in the "longest railway in the world owned by a single company," as the shareholders of the time boasted (the other systems consisted of small, independent railways). No less than three miles long, the bridge included 24 ice-breaking piers, for the designers rightly feared damage from ice, which would in fact delay construction work during the first years. The deck was a long structural metal tube made of prefabricated sections (from England) and designed by Robert Stephenson, son of the builder of the famed Rocket locomotive.

In 1897-1898, the metal tube from 1860 was replaced by metal trusses, common at the time. To minimize traffic disruptions, the trusses were assembled around the tube, while the tube continued to carry train traffic. The tube was then demolished.

The stone piers from 1860, slightly altered in 1897, still testify to the excellent original engineering. The Victoria Bridge is a key historic structure, one still used by the Canadian—and North American—rail systems, and remains a major contributor to Montreal's role as a continental hub.

   
 
 
THE RAILWAY STATION DISTRICT
WINDSOR STATION AND ITS
VICTORIAN SURROUNDINGS
CENTRAL STATION AND
ITS MODERN COMPLEX
PLACE VILLE-MARIE
HEART OF THE UNDERGROUND
PEDESTRIAN NETWORK
TWO RAILWAY STATIONS
IN THE HISTORIC CITY CENTRE
THE VICTORIA BRIDGE
 
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March 2003