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== The bridge across the Belaya River == Ufa rail bridge across the Belaya River carries double tracked rail lines over the Belaya River. It is located in the city of Ufa, the Republic of Bashkortostan.〔(Ufa, Russia overview, map, weather, photos )〕 Construction of the bridge began in 1886 and was completed in 1888. The bridge provided for the passage of trains across the Belaya River in the direction of Ufa, and allowed for further construction of the main railway line up to Chelyabinsk (1892).〔(Kevin Fink, The Beginnings of Railways in Russia. History 155 - Russia to 1917. Prof. Davis. December 1991. )〕〔(Joint Stock Company "Russian Railways" | History of Russian Railways )〕 The span structures of the bridge were designed by Prof. Nikolai Belelyubsky in accordance with the building codes of 1884. The manufacturing of spans was made at the famous Votkinsk state-owned plant (now the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant) in Udmurtia, where blast furnaces started to be widely used for the first time in Russia that allowed to produce rails for the country's railroad network. When designing the span structures, Belelyubsky developed and introduced a completely new design: transverse floor-beams of the trusses were hingedly connected to their bottom chords. Such a type of structural support was considered to be ground-breaking in the days of Belelyubsky, because it allowed to reduce secondary stresses in trusses. At the Edinburg Exposition 1890, this design received the Gold medal and later came to be known abroad as the "Russian support method".〔(Юрлов Н.165 лет со дня рождения Н.А.Белелюбского (1845–1922). Инженер, ученый, патриот // Наша школа. - №2(111). - 2010. - С.41. )〕 On 8 September 1888, the bridge was solemnly opened to traffic by Minister of Railway Transport, admiral Konstantin Posyet. A pedestrian path was immediately opened on the bridge. For this purpose, special foot sidewalks were made out of wood (subsequently the movement of pedestrians was forbidden). The bridge consisted of 6 spans, each 109 metres (358,432 ft) long. Each of the bridge‘s pillars was equipped with a wedge-shaped cutwater on the upstream side dressed with granite slabs and designed to break up the current of the river and ice-blocks.〔(Library of Congress. The railroad bridge across the Belaia River near Ufa 1910, by Prokudin-Gorskii )〕〔(The bridges of Ufa: The railroad Bridge over the River Belaya Ufa )〕 In June 1919, the battles of the Civil war took place directly around the town of Ufa. Striving to keep their control over the town at any cost, the retreating troops of Admiral Kolchak detonated the sixth right-bank span of the bridge. One end of the truss fell into the river and was strongly deformed. But this didn't help the Whites to manage their goal, because the famous 25th Rifle Division of Chapaev captured the town on 9 June 1919. With the retreat of Kolchak in Siberia, the assault troops of the Red Army advanced further, while their rear units remained near Ufa on the other bank of the Belaya. Meanwhile, the bridge crossing was in urgent need of rehabilitation. Since there were no adequate facilities or equipment available, manual labor was the only hope. It was decided to use winches to raise the fallen truss back into place. Inch by inch, step by step. Perhaps this is how the heavy stones were raised to the height of the rising pyramids of Egypt. But nobody seemed to care about the times of Antiquity. The restoration works involved approximately 2,500 builders, workers and railway engineers. Day by day, week after week, and the iron mass of the bridge that was crutched up with the scaffolds from the river-bank didn't towered so hopeless above the river anymore. As a result of those tremendous efforts, the bridge was successfully restored in that same year through the establishment of the temporary damaged span followed by a complete overhaul, during which the destroyed span was replaced with a new one. The latter was designed by Prof. Lavr Proskuryakov in accordance with the building codes of 1907, who had already designed the largest rail bridges in Russia over the Yenisey and Amur rivers by that time. Thanks to careful preparation and extraordinary guidance, the bridge builders carried out the replacement of the damaged span within just 11 hours with minimal traffic disruption. Within 7 hours, the old span was pushed off the pillars with the use of jacking system, and within 3 hours 45 minutes, the new span was put in place. On October 10, 1919, Vladimir Lenin sent a congratulatory telegram to the bridge-building crew to express his appreciation for their hardwork.〔(The Ufa City's major bridges )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ufa Rail Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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