The Kafue Railway Bridge was built to carry the
Livingstone to
Lusaka
Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...
railway line in what is now
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
over the
Kafue River
The Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia at about long. Its water is used for irrigation and for hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it is the most central ...
in 1906. It is a steel girder
truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
of 13 spans each of supported on concrete piers. It was built for
Mashonaland Railways
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe.
Currently, Mashonaland is divided into four provinces,
* Mashonaland West
* Mashonaland Central
* Mashonaland East
* Harare
The Zimbabwean capital of Harare, a province unto itself, lies entirely ...
, later merged into
Rhodesian Railways
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system.
It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...
which operated the line from 1927
until succeeded in Zambia by
Zambia Railways
Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to ...
in 1966.
With a length of the Kafue Railway Bridge was the longest bridge on the Rhodesian Railways network.
It includes nearly of embankments raised about where the line crosses the river's wider rainy season channel, and a lower embankment about long where it crosses the river's the shallower floodplain to the south-west of the bridge.
[ The bridge is visible at decimal latitude/longitude -15.7876, 28.1766.]
The town of
Kafue
Kafue is a town in the Lusaka Province of Zambia and it lies on the north bank of the Kafue River, after which it is named. It is the southern gateway to the central Zambian plateau on which Lusaka and the mining towns of Kabwe and the Copperbe ...
is at the bridge's northern end and the
Kafue Bridge
Kafue is a town in the Lusaka Province of Zambia and it lies on the north bank of the Kafue River, after which it is named. It is the southern gateway to the central Zambian plateau on which Lusaka and the mining towns of Kabwe and the Copperbe ...
on the
Great North Road is downstream.
See also
History of Zambia
The history of Zambia experienced many stages from colonization to independence from Britain on October 24, 1964.
Northern Rhodesia became a British sphere of influence in the present-day region of Zambia in 1888, and was officially proclaimed a B ...
References
Bridges in Zambia
Bridges completed in 1906
Railway bridges in Zambia
1906 establishments in the British Empire
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