Zambia/Zimbabwe: The Victoria Falls Bridge is structurally sound and safe
Emerged Railways Properties (Pvt) Limited (ERP), a company jointly owned by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL), has announced that the Victoria Falls Bridge is structurally sound, safe and thus also economically viable. The ERP manages the bridge, which links the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe with Livingstone in Zambia, and one of key mandates of the company is to ensure that the facility is maintained in such a way that its structural integrity is maintained so that its safe usage and economic viability are also assured.
A principal Inspection is undertaken every five years and is deliberately undertaken by an international independent consultant. The latest principal Inspection was undertaken by Rambøll, a Denmark based structural engineering firm and their inspection report states in part:
"As documented in the present report, the Victoria Falls Bridge is generally very healthy, and the current maintenance schedule is sufficient for securing the durability. When the items listed in the summary above are taken care of, and the good maintenance practice continued, we assume a service life of the main structures of 200 years from the original construction, i.e. until 2105."The Victoria Falls Bridge, which was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes, was prefabricated in England and then shipped to the port city of Beira in Mozambique before the bridge got transported on the newly constructed railway to the Victoria Falls. It took just 14 months to construct and was completed in 1905. The official opening of the Victoria Falls Bridge took place on 12 September 1905.
Constructed from steel, the Victoria Falls Bridge is 198 metres long, with a main arch spanning 156.50 metres, at a height of 128 metres above the lower water mark of the Zambezi River in the gorge below. It carries a road, railway and footway. The bridge is the only rail link between Zambia and Zimbabwe and one of only three road links between the two countries
