Nowadays, most of bridge networks are complete or close to completion. The biggest challenge railroad./highway agencies and departments of transportation face is the maintenance of these networks, keeping them safe and serviceable, with limited funds. To maintain the bridges effectively, there is an urgent need to predict their remaining life from a system reliability viewpoint. And, it is necessary to develop the maintenance models based on system reliability concept. In this paper, maintenance models are developed for preventive maintenance and essential maintenance by using system reliability and lifetime distributions. The proposed model is applied to an existing railroad bridge. The optimal maintenance strategy of this bridge is obtained in terms of services life extension and cumulative maintenance cost.