The bridge was constructed as a result of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Act 1892, which aimed to provide access along the length of the river from wharves and jetties down past Briton Ferry.

[2] The River Neath Bridge has three steel approach spans on the west side and two on the east.

On 19 March 1985, the British Railways Board proposed to cease operating the swing-bridge over the River Neath, a move that was considered controversial in South Wales.

The Board believed that maintaining the fiction of a swing-bridge presented BR with a cost that is no longer justified.

[4] Despite the bridge being welded shut to permanently lock it, with much of the original R&SB railway route now closed, the section incorporating the Neath river crossing still exists, now forming part of a diversionary goods and any passenger traffic routing over the Swansea District Line.