The Loughor railway viaduct is a railway viaduct

Viaduct

A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

 carrying the West Wales Line

West Wales Line

The West Wales Lines are a group of railway lines from Swansea through Carmarthenshire to Pembrokeshire, West Wales...

 across the River Loughor

River Loughor

The River Loughor in Carmarthenshire, Wales has its source at an underground lake at the Black Mountain. It flows past settlements like Ammanford and Hendy in Carmarthenshire and Pontarddulais in Swansea. The river divides Carmarthenshire from Swansea for much of its course and it separates Hendy...

. The original structure was built completely in timber and was engineered by Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...

 and K. E. Fletcher. The timber was later replaced with wrought iron, and then with steel plate. It is currently a Grade II listed structure. The structure is in striking contrast to the adjacent Loughor road bridge

Loughor bridge

The Loughor bridge is a road bridge crossing over the River Loughor, providing a convenient link between much of western Swansea and Llanelli, west Wales. The bridge is part of the A484 road. The road bridge is adjacent to the Loughor railway viaduct. A permanent bridge linking Loughor and...

.

The Loughor viaduct dates from circa 1860 and was built to carry two tracks. The viaduct sits on a five mile section of track between Cockett

Cockett

Cockett is a community in Swansea, Wales falling within Cockett ward. It is located about north west of Swansea city centre.Cockett, in common with much of western Swansea, was the result of late Victorian and early twentieth century expansion...

 and Duffryn which was reduced to single track operation in 1986 to save on maintenance costs. The aging structure is due for renewal in 2012/2013. There are proposals to re-double the section of track along with the bridge renewal to reduce service bottlenecks in the area.http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/wales/wales%20rus.pdf