“Curious and beautiful metal bridge, first cousin to the one in Girona, but this one is in Tortosa and passes over the immense Ebro river,” describes Narcís Serrat, author of these photographs in La Vanguardia’s Photos of Readers.
The bridge of the city of Tortosa (Baix Ebre), which is located on the mighty Ebro River, is the old railway bridge that connects this town with Alcañiz and Puebla de Híjar. The red viaduct is 224 meters long and is built with a structure that supported the train rail.
This viaduct was built between 1865 and 1868 to join the railway lines between Tarragona and Valencia by the British engineering company of Charles Bergue.
Until the platform was manufactured, citizens could only move from one side of the river to the other using the pont de barques. In 1867, a first provisional train station made of wood was built for passengers and it was not until July 21, 1868, that, for the first time, a train crossed the Tortosa railway bridge.
Likewise, before the inauguration of the bridge, those passengers who wanted to travel from Barcelona to Valencia had to take two trains with a total duration of 8 hours and 40 minutes, while, with the new construction of the viaduct, the time was reduced to 7 hours.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the bridge had problems with the material the platform was made of, as it was insufficient to support the entire weight of the railway equipment. For this reason, in 1913, the old concrete pillars were replaced by other higher quality materials.
The new bridge was designed to support a double track along with metal beams by the Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima company of Barcelona. This bridge functioned without problems until, in 1938, during the Civil War, it was destroyed by retreating Republican troops.
The Tortosa bridge has a relative in Girona, designed by Manuel Almeda, and executed by the company of engineer Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, known for building the Eiffel Tower. Located in the center of the city with views of the Girona Cathedral, the platform crosses the Onyar River from Santa Clara Street and the Mercadal area to Rambla de la Llibertat and Argenteria Street.
The bridge was built almost 10 years later than the one in Tortosa, in 1877, to facilitate the passage of the railway and the pedestrian crossing over the Onyar River and the Güell River and, in addition, to unite the old and new parts of the city. .
This viaduct has received several names. Formerly, it was known as the Peixateries Velles bridge, since it was a place for fishermen for many years. In addition, they also call it the Eiffel Bridge because it has a similarity to the Eiffel Tower but lying down and because it has a similar design in its metal structures. And, finally, there are those who know it as the Pont de Palanques Vermelles or as the Pont de Ferro de Girona. The construction cost 22,500 pesetas at that time.
At first glance we see that both Tortosa and Girona have several similarities. On the one hand, both viaducts are reddish in color and are located above a river, Ebro and Onyar, respectively. Furthermore, the initial idea of ??both was to unify one end of the city from the other with the use of trains.
Currently, both bridges, both Tortosa and Girona, are a pedestrian zone. According to Tortosa Turisme, “it is enabled for cyclists, walkers, skaters, horses…”.
