Empress Bridge
The Sutlej Bridge was also known as the Empress Bridge near Bahawalpur, Punjab (now in Pakistan). The bridge, which opened in 1887, carried the broad gauge(BG) North Western Railway(NWR) over the River Sutlej between Ferozepore (see note) and Kazur.
The Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway(SP&DR) had in 1883 opened the BG branch from Raiwind on the ‘Lahore via Raiwind to Khanewa Section’ Mainline to Kazur and on to Hussainiwala (on the northern bank of the River Sutlej). The opening of the bridge in 1887 linked Ferozepore to the NWR network (SP&DR had marged into NWR in 1886).
The bridge over the River Sutlej was built on twenty-seven brick piers, carried a railway line fifteen feet broad and a cart road of eighteen feet, flanked by footpaths. [1] [2]
The Engineer-in-Charge of the construction was William St. John Galwey, assisted in 1873 by Hugh Lewin Monk from the Public Works Department(PWD) Railway Branch of PWD.
The Engineer-in-Chief of the Firozpur (Empress) Bridge in 1885-86 was Robert Trefusis Mallet from the PWD [3].
The bridge was later re-named the Kaisir-i-Hind Bridge (Empress of India in Hindi) and was the subject of a report “The Protection-Works of the Kaisir-i-Hind Bridge over the River Sutlej, near Ferozepore” delivered to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1903. [4].
Empress Bridge Training Works Tramway
In 1913 emergency river training works were carried out by the 'Punjab irrigation Department'., Bahawalpur District. A 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) temporary tramway was used to transport stone from a stone store to the river. It is unknown if locomotives were used [5].. Note the records for 1913 still describe this bridge as the 'Empress Bridge'
Spelling note
- Ferozepore is the spelling given in the Imperial Gazetteer of India [6] which we take to be the definitive form.
- Ferozpore is used in some references
- Ferozepur is used in some documents
- Firozpur is the modern spelling used on maps and in Wikipedia [7].
Remark
The Ferozepore Steam Tramway was a temporary steam tramway that opened in 1885 and crossed the River Sutlej by using a bridge of boats connecting the Ferozepore station of the North Western Railway(NWR) to the village of Ganda Singh Bandar to connect to the NWR line from Lahore [8].
The tramway was closed in 1887-88 with the opening of the Empress Bridge over the River Sutlej connecting Ferozepore directly by the NWR line to Lahore.
References
- ↑ "The Empress Bridge over the Sutlej" by James Richard Bell M.Inst.C.E. Paper No 1682; Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Volume 65 ,published 1881, page 242; Retrieved on 20 Apr 2016
- ↑ "The Kipling Society - The Sutlej Bridge"; Retrieved on 20 Apr 2016
- ↑ Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 560 (pdf page 523 Retrieved on 26 May 2016
- ↑ Institution of Civil Engineers “The Protection-Works of the Kaisir-i-Hind Bridge over the River Sutlej, near Ferozepore”, March 1903 Retrieved on 20 Jul 2016
- ↑ “Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry PP01 page ....
- ↑ Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 95; Retrieved 4 Sept 2016
- ↑ Wikipedia "Firozpur"; Retrieved 4 Sept 2016
- ↑ Tramways and Light Rails by Simon Darvill, August 2004; Retrieved 4 Sept 2016
