The span is used by approximately 30 trains a day and is opened over 1,000 times per year, primarily during the summer months for Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises and recreational vessels.

[3] The railroad continued southward along the West Side Line to St. John's Park Terminal in Lower Manhattan and carried both freight and passenger service.

The bridge was slightly damaged three years later, when the swing span was struck by a boat, leaving it stuck in the open position for two weeks.

This involved the conversion of the abandoned West Side Line to accommodate passenger service and connect with Pennsylvania Station.

[1][7][8] In June 2018, Amtrak used the Left Coast Lifter, one of the world's largest floating cranes, to lift the 1.6 million pounds (730,000 kg) of the bridge's spans and move them to a barge in order to make fixes to electrical and mechanical components necessitated by damage due to Hurricane Sandy and years of malfunctions and corrosion.