The El Ferdan Bridge in Egypt is a critical transportation link, allowing trains and vehicles to cross the Suez Canal, one of the busiest shipping waterways in the world. This presents an extremely complex challenge, both in terms of design and execution.
But very few pieces of infrastructure can truly be considered transcontinental. One that can be considered is Egypt's El Ferdan Railway Bridge, which is a dual swing bridge that spans the Suez Canal, connecting Africa with Asia.
El Ferdan Railway Bridge. Image credit: H Nawara, Wikipedia Commons
Railway bridges over the Suez Canal have had a tendency to not last very long, as it was the fifth bridge over the Suez Canal built in that location. Even while the Suez Canal is on a pedestal when it comes to waterways, the construction of a railway bridge over the canal is riddled with mishaps and destruction.
Early Bridges and Setbacks
The first El Ferdan Railway Bridge over the Suez Canal was completed in April 1918 for the Palestine Military Railway. It was considered a hindrance to shipping so after the First World War it was removed.
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A steel swing bridge was built in 1942 (during the Second World War), but this was damaged by a steamship and removed in 1947. A double swing bridge was completed in 1954 but the 1956 Anglo-Franco-Israeli war with Egypt severed rail traffic across the canal for a third time.
A replacement bridge was completed in 1963 which was destroyed in 1967 in the Six-Day War by the Egyptian engineering General Ahmed Hamdy.
Historical bridges over the Suez Canal
The Current El Ferdan Bridge
El-Ferdan Swing Railway Bridge - The Longest Bridge in the World
In July 1996, a consortium led by German Krupp was awarded a $US70 million contract to design and build the bridge, raised to $80 million to increase the main span from 320 to 340 m (1,050 to 1,120 ft). The current bridge was constructed in 2001. Opened on November 14, 2001, the bridge has a single railway track running down the middle that is flanked by two 10-foot- (3-metre-) wide lanes for high-speed vehicular traffic.
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Also called a swing, or double-cantilever, bridge, the structure is 2,099 feet (640 metres) long and has a steel truss superstructure 41 feet (12.6 metres) wide and 197 feet (60 metres) high at the pivot. Each giant steel arm swings open 90°, creating a navigational space 1,050 feet (320 metres) wide.
El-Ferdan Bridge was designed and constructed by a consortium of German, Belgian, and Egyptian companies. The new structure that weighs 14,000 tons is made up of steel plates that are up to six inches (150 mm) thick. With a maximum length of 131 feet (40 m), these plates can weigh up to 152 tons each and needed innovations in modular unit manufacturing, the press release said.
The new bridges feature two railway tracks that move into position and dock successfully within 18 minutes. The railway passage time over the bridge is expected to be three minutes as against the ferry that takes 30 minutes for a round trip, the press release said.
Bridge Specifications
It is the longest swing bridge in the world, with a span of 1,100 feet (340 m). The bridge opened in 2001, and is (or was) the longest swing bridge in the world. The bridge was meant to be a catalyst for agricultural and industrial development in the region, but it was also geopolitically significant because it made it possible to cross between Africa and Asia in just a few minutes.
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Carries | 2 rail lines |
| Crosses | Suez Canal |
| Design | Cantilever Bridge with a swing span |
| Material | Steel |
| Width | 12.6 m (41 ft) |
| Longest span | 1,100 feet (340 m) |
Challenges and Expansion
Between 2001-2015, it served the Egyptian National Railway. The Suez Canal was expanded to include a second shipping line, causing the rail line that used the bridge to end at a dead end.
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The parallel New Suez Canal was excavated in 2014/2015 a short distance to the east but without a bridge spanning it. Without a second bridge, the railway across El Ferdan bridge is a dead end.
The bridge was not functional for a while due to the expansion of the Suez Canal completed in 2015 which added a parallel shipping lane just east of the existing bridge, cutting off the railway into Sinai.
A new railway tunnel was planned to connect the railway east of the Suez to the rest of Egypt's railway network, which would have rendered the El Firdan Railway bridge obsolete. However, more recently, it has been decided the El Firdan Railway Bridge will be reactivated and expanded, as opposed to the initial plan of building a tunnel.
However, the final decision was made in 2017 to keep the existing bridge at its current location, and rather build a new double-track railway bridge (based on the current El Ferdan bridge design) across the new canal. When completed, these bridges will be connected to the El Ferdan bridge over the older canal making it the largest horizontal swing railway bridge in the world.
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