Empress Bridge

Empress Bridge امپریس پل
Coordinates	29°26′50″N71°39′11″E / 29.447152°N 71.653175°E / 29.447152; 71.653175
Carries	Karachi–Peshawar Railway Line
Crosses	Sutlej River
Locale	Adamwahan / Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
Begins	Adamwahan, Lodhran District
Ends	Bahawalpur District
Other name(s)	Adamwahan Bridge, Sutlej Bridge
Named for	Queen Victoria (as Empress of India)
Owner	Pakistan Railways
Maintained by	Pakistan Railways
Characteristics
Design	Iron truss
Material	Iron, bricks
Total length	610 m (2,000 ft)
No. of spans	8
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks	2
History
Designer	Rendel, Palmer and Tritton
Constructed by	Indus Valley State Railway
Built	1826
Opened	1878
Rebuilt	1929 (double-tracked)
Location
Interactive map of Empress Bridge

The Empress Bridge, also known as Adamwahan Bridge, is a railway bridge over the Sutlej River that provides a rail link between Punjab and Sindh. It is named after Queen Victoria who held the title of Empress of India. ^[1]

History

The bridge was originally commissioned in 1826 by the British during the reign of Bahawal Khan III to support the rail transport of goods and passengers. Its structural design used iron bars to form a single-track railway crossing. ^[2] It was designed by Irish engineer William St. John Galwey and was opened in 1878. ^{[3] [4]}

In 1926, an upgrade project was initiated to increase the bridge’s carrying capacity. The consulting engineering firm Rendel, Palmer and Tritton converted the bridge from a single track to a double track by 1929. ^[2]

In popular culture

In 2019, a historical novel Anwasi by Hafeez Khan, which focuses on the construction of the Empress Bridge over the Sutlej River in the late nineteenth century, was published. ^[5]

References

1. Wex, B. P.; McIntosh, D. F. (1967). "Discussion: The Design of a High-Pressure Pipe Bridge over the River Sutlej in West Pakistan" (PDF). Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 37 (2): 325–347. doi:10.1680/iicep.1967.8413.
2. Zafar, Kashif (23 December 2016). "Withstanding nature's fury: British-era bridge still stands tall over Sutlej River". The Express Tribune.
3. Alvi, Pervaiz Munir (11 March 2011). "The Bridges of Pakistan".
4. Macrae, W. (1934). "Training-Works in Connection with the Shortening of the Empress Bridge over the River Sutlej". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 237 (1934): 119–130. doi:10.1680/imotp.1934.15338.
5. "Historical tale of Empress Bridge captured in 'Anwasi'". The Express Tribune. 2 September 2019.