Karkamış Bridge

Karkamış Bridge Karkamış Köprüsü
Coordinates	36°49′48″N 38°01′29″E / 36.8301°N 38.0246°E / 36.8301; 38.0246Coordinates: 36°49′48″N 38°01′29″E / 36.8301°N 38.0246°E / 36.8301; 38.0246
Carries	1 track of the Çobanbey-Nusaybin railway
Crosses	Euphrates
Locale	Karkamış, Gaziantep Province and Çiçekalan, Şanlıurfa Province
Named for	Karkamış
Owner	Turkish State Railways
Characteristics
Material	Steel
Total length	870 m (2,850 ft)[1]
No. of spans	10
History
Designer	Holzmann & Co.
Constructed by	CIOB
Construction start	1911
Construction end	1913 (1913)
Inaugurated	11 July 1914[2]
Karkamış Bridge Location in Turkey

The Karkamış Bridge (Turkish: Karkamış Köprüsü) is a Parker-truss bridge carrying the Çobanbey-Nusaybin railway across the Euphrates in southeastern Turkey.

The bridge was built by the Baghdad Railway between 1911-13 in the Ottoman Empire and played an important role for transporting troops and supplies during World War I, as it was the only permanent crossing of the Euphrates in the area. After the war, the bridge and the railway fell under British military control until the Allies withdrew their forces from Turkey. The French-owned Chemins de fer de Cilicie Nord-Syrie, headquartered in French Syria (CNS) took over the railway in 1921 and operated the route until being sold to the Turkish-owned Southern Railway in 1933.^[3] This new company owned and operated the railway until being absorbed by the Turkish State Railways in 1948.^[4]

When first completed, the structure was the second longest bridge in the Ottoman Empire and later Turkey, after Uzunköprü Bridge in East Thrace.

References