Burrard Inlet's lift rail bridge stuck, unable to open for large ships for days | Daily Hive

Burrard Inlet's lift rail bridge stuck, unable to open for large ships to pass through Second Narrows for days

Second Narrows Rail Bridge in Burrard Inlet's Second Narrows. (Blaze Sky/YouTube)

A malfunction at the critical rail bridge at the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Metro Vancouver has halted major marine traffic to and from terminals east of the crossing for several days, disrupting vessel movements and forcing large ships to wait while repairs to the structure are carried out.

The Second Narrows Rail Bridge, owned and operated by Canadian National (CN), is a vital freight link spanning the inlet between North Vancouver and Burnaby, immediately east of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

The structure carries very heavy volumes of rail traffic serving port facilities and industrial operations on the North Shore, making it a key piece of Canada’s goods-movement network.

But the bridge is also essential to marine traffic. Its elevator-like, vertical-lift span — a 450 ft. long central section — must rise to provide a minimum 153 ft. of clearance for larger vessels transiting the Second Narrows at high tide. The current malfunction has left the bridge unable to lift, effectively closing the passage to ships that require the opening and creating a bottleneck for commercial marine traffic in Burrard Inlet.

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The malfunction first began over the weekend, with the initial bulletin to customers and stakeholders, shared with Daily Hive Urbanized, stating that “limited rail service to the North Shore is expected to continue as repair windows allow,” and that “no commercial marine vessels (deep-sea ships, tugs, barges) can transit through the Second Narrows until repairs are complete and operations resume.”

A bulletin on Monday providing an update on the situation states there were continued impacts to marine vessels, but rail service has been largely unaffected, with some bridge closures to support the repair work.

In a bulletin on Tuesday, it was advised that there were delays to the repair work, with normal bridge operations now anticipated to resume on Wednesday afternoon.

“In preparation for the resumption of marine transits east of the Second Narrows, the port authority is working closely with the Pacific Pilotage Authority and other stakeholders to finalize plans to restore transit fluidity safely and efficiently once bridge repairs are complete,” reads Tuesday’s bulletin.

Thornton Tunnel Canadian National Burnaby Railway

Thornton Tunnel between the Second Narrows Rail Bridge in Burrard Inlet and Brentwood Town Centre district in Burnaby. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

Ironworkers Memorial Bridge (foreground) and Second Narrows Rail Bridge (background). (Paul Yates/Shutterstock)

Upon inquiry, CN told Daily Hive Urbanized late Tuesday afternoon that the bridge experienced a “mechanical issue” that is causing it to “stay in the down position,” with the railway company’s crews “working around the clock to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.”

Vancouver Fraser Port Authority also told Daily Hive Urbanized late Tuesday afternoon that CN’s repair work is expected to be completed tomorrow.

“Commercial marine vessels that require a marine bridge lift, such as deep-sea cargo vessels, cannot transit through the Second Narrows until lifting operations resume,” the port authority told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“We are working with industry and supply chain partners to minimize any potential impacts to port operations, and finalizing plans to resume marine operations for terminals east of Second Narrows safely and efficiently.”

Not only are there large ships waiting to go east of the Second Narrows, but there are also major vessels waiting to leave Vancouver harbour.

As of this evening, according to Marine Traffic, there are seven large ships at the easternmost end of Burrard Inlet — east of the Second Narrows Rail Bridge — including two bulk carriers (one berthed, one anchored) and five oil/chemical tankers (three berthed and two anchored).

vancouver harbour burrard inlet marine traffic feb 24 2026

Marine vessels in Burrard Inlet on the evening of Feb. 24, 2026. (Marine Traffic)

Burrard Inlet’s major oil export terminal facilities — such as the Stanovan Marine Terminal and Westridge Marine Terminal — are located east of the rail bridge. Ever since the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion became operational in 2024, oil tanker traffic has increased from about five per month previously to about one loaded tanker leaving Westridge Marine Terminal daily.

The disruption due to the rail bridge’s mechanism failure serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of Metro Vancouver’s aging infrastructure for trade, where a single malfunction at a key piece of equipment can quickly cascade into widespread impacts on shipping, port operations, and the broader goods-movement network.

According to CN, nearly one-third of all cargo that moves through the Port of Vancouver every year — about 44 million metric tonnes in 2024 — goes through the North Shore and relies on this critical rail bridge, which connects directly to several bulk export terminals in North Vancouver, handling significant volumes of grain, coal, and potash.

The bridge typically lifts several times each day to allow marine traffic to pass through.

The recent implementation of a new centralized scheduling system in Burrard Inlet has enabled marine traffic through the Second Narrows to increase by 56 per cent. As well, the improved visibility of ship movements has also helped rail operations, with CN able to increase the number of trains serving the terminals by 10 per cent each week.

Burnaby Refinery. (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock)

This bridge was originally built in 1969 to provide a higher lift rail bridge replacement for a previous crossing constructed in 1925. A decade after its completion in 1979, a cargo ship collided into the bridge, causing a large section of the bridge just north of the lift span to fall into the water. The bridge was closed for about half a year, until the repairs were complete.

The southern end of the rail bridge directly transitions into the 3.2-km-long Thornton Tunnel — CN Rail’s north-south, single-track freight railway deep under Burnaby neighbourhoods, with the southern tunnel portal located in the Brentwood district, where the railway connects to the east-west railway trunk railway line.

Over the coming decades, the aging Ironworkers Memorial Bridge — the six-lane bridge that forms a crucial segment of Highway 1, and is one of only two road bridges linking Metro Vancouver with the North Shore, Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island (via BC Ferries’ Horseshoe Bay terminal), Squamish, and Whistler — could be replaced with a new multi-modal crossing that incorporates rail rapid transit, as part of a broader Metrotown-North Shore rapid transit project.

Over on the east side of Delta at the mouth of the Fraser River, contracted construction crews are currently working to repair TransLink’s damaged 1910-built Westham Island Bridge, after a tug boat towing a barge collided with the structure and caused serious damage last month, with the structure knocked out of alignment. The repair work involves lifting the bridge span and repairing its in-river foundations, and it is unclear whether the crossing’s swing span will return upon reopening. Prior to the incident, TransLink had already begun planning for a new replacement crossing.

second narrows rail bridge burrard inlet

The Second Narrows Rail Bridge just beyond the north entrance into the Thornton Tunnel. (sophiecat/Shutterstock)

The Second Narrows Rail Bridge just beyond the north entrance into the Thornton Tunnel. (Google Maps)

ironworkers memorial bridge second narrows burrard inlet

Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and Second Narrows Rail Bridge at the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet. (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock)

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