The swing bridge is situated between the Lyndhurst and Delawanna stations of NJT's Main Line, 8.52 miles (13.71 km) from its origination point at Hoboken Terminal, and 11.7 miles (18.8 km) from the river's mouth at Newark Bay.

Norfolk Southern Railway uses the bridge to access Croxton Yard to the east across the New Jersey Meadowlands.

[3] Rail service across the river was originally oriented to bringing passengers and freight from the points west over the Hackensack Meadows to Bergen Hill, where tunnels and cuts provided access terminals on the Hudson River.

The crossing of the river was developed under the auspices of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W) as part of its Boonton Branch, which in 1960 merged with the Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna.

In 1963, the Erie's Main Line south of Paterson through downtown Passaic was abandoned and service was shifted to the alignment over the Lyndhurst Draw and the Upper Hack Lift.