Kotri Bridge

The Kotri Bridge is situated between Kotri and Hyderabad on Indus river in Sindh (now in Pakistan). The Indus Bridge Works of the Kotri-Rohri Railway commenced in 1893 with Ernest Ifill Shadbolt as Engineer-in-chief.

The Bridge was opened to traffic on 25th May 1900 and was reconstructed in 1931. It has single railway track on it and presented a main obstacle for smooth rail traffic as on both ends there was double track .

Background

The ‘Gazetteer of Sind Province, 1907’ gave the following:-

”The ‘Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway’ ceased when it was taken over by the State on 1 Jan I886, and amalgamated with the Punjab Northern, the Indus Valley, the Sind Pishin Railways in one imperial system under the name of the ‘North Western Railway’. The line from Sukkur to Kotri was frequently breached, which caused vexatious interruptions of communication with Karachi and the North West Frontier and dislocated the export trade. On these grounds it was decided to have alternative line on the left bank of the troublesome river. In 1892 single track line from Hyderabad eastward as far as Shadipali and now a line was started from Rahoki Station on this line, 6¼ miles east of Hyderabad, and carried to Rohri, distance of 178.54 miles. This was opened for coaching traffic on 15th December 1896 and since the completion of the Kotri Bridge it has become the main route to the Punjab, reducing the distance by about 38 miles. That bridge was completed and opened for traffic on 25 May, 1900”

Records

The India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library give the following in the photographic collection:-

• Photographs Album details for shelfmark Photo 285/ “Shadbolt Collection: Construction of the Indus Bridge at Kotri”.

References