Syzran Bridge

Coordinates: 53°10′19″N 48°47′55″E / 53.17194°N 48.79861°E

The famous Alexander Railway Bridge. Opened for traffic on August 30, 1880.

The Alexander Railway Bridge across the Volga River near Syzran, so named after the reigning emperor Alexander II, was designed by Nikolai Belelyubsky and Konstantin Mikhailovsky. The first bridge across the Volga in its lower reaches, it was opened by Konstantin Posyet in 1880 as a part of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway.

The bridge's diagonal system had 13 spans, each 107 metres (351 ft) long. It continued to be the longest in Europe over a sustained period of time with a total length of 1,483 metres (4,865 ft). It was renamed Syzran Bridge after the Russian Revolution in 1917.

In 1918, during the Russian Civil War, two spans of the bridge were detonated by the retreating troops of Komuch supporters, but were quickly restored.

In the period from 1949 to 1957, the bridge was widened to carry two tracks.

In 2004, the original spans of the bridge were replaced with new structures.

On August 27, 2010, a commemorative stele was set up on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the bridge's opening.

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