Lansdowne Bridge

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The Lansdowne Bridge was a railway bridge, a marvel of nineteenth century engineering, the 'longest "rigid" girder bridge in the world' at the time of its built in 1887. Built on the cantilever principle, the central span of 200 feet had to be floated into position. From the tower-centres the bridge measures 790 feet across. It was built to use the steam rail service in order to reduce ferry travel time across the Indus River between cities of Rohri and Sukkur. It is basically situated between Rohri and a small island Bukkur and then connects to Sukkur with small bridge named as Sukkur Bridge. It was designed by Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, the girder work weighing a massive 3,300 tons was erected by F.E. Robertson, and Hecquet.

The construction of Lansdowne bridge claimed 6 lives. Four men fell from the dizzy heights and 2 were knocked out by falling tools on them. The cost of bridge was Rs 2,696,000 including Rs 276,000 that were spent on foundations only.

The Indus Valley State Railway had reached Sukkur in 1879 and the steam ferry which transported eight wagons at a time across the Indus was found to be cumbersome and time consuming. The ferry link between Rohri and Sukkur became redundant when Lord Reay Governor of Bombay. Detutizing for Lord Lansdowne, the viceroy, inaugurated the Bridge on March 25, 1889. The bridge was replaced with road traffic after railway was shifted to newly constructed bridge "Ayub Arch" in 1962.