In this study, a damage detection approach using train-induced vibration response of the bridge is proposed, utilizing only direct structural analysis by means of introducing soft computing methods. In this approach, the possible damage patterns of the bridge are assumed according to theoretical and empirical considerations at first. Then, the running train-induced dynamic response of the bridge under a certain damage pattern is calculated employing a developed train-bridge interaction analysis program. When the calculated result is most identical to the recorded response, this damage pattern will be the solution. However, owing to the huge number of possible damage patterns, it is extremely time-consuming to calculate the bridge responses of all the cases and thus difficult to identify the exact solution quickly. Therefore, the soft computing methods are introduced to quickly solve the problem in this approach. The basic concept and process of the proposed approach are presented in this paper, and its feasibility is numerically investigated using two different train models and a simple girder bridge model.