19th-century London (1819), Waterloo Bridge (1817), the Hungerford Bridge (opened in 1845 as a footbridge, and converted in 1859 into a combination footbridge/railway bridge for Charing Cross Station), and Tower Bridge (1894). Further upriver, the new bridges included Lambeth Bridge (1862), which replaced a centuries-old cross-river ferry service, Vauxhall Bridge (opened 1816), Victoria Bridge (opened in 1858 and later renamed the Chelsea Bridge), and Wandsworth Bridge (1873). The impetus for this building was London's massive population growth, which put a constant strain on existing communications between the north and south banks. London Bridge remained the city's busiest artery for the entire century,
London Bridge station The station was originally opened by the London and Greenwich Railway as a local service. It subsequently served the London and Croydon Railway, the London and Brighton Railway and the South Eastern Railway, thus becoming an important London terminus. It was rebuilt in 1849 and again in 1864 to provide more services and increase capacity. Local services from London Bridge began to be electrified at the turn of the 20th century, and had spread to national routes by the 1930s. The station was extensively rebuilt by British Rail in the 1970s, along with a comprehensive re-signalling scheme and track alignment.