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.

References

Bridges in Zambia Bridges completed in 1906 Railway bridges in Zambia 1906 establishments in the British Empire {{Africa-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References