Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Sobu Rail Line across the Sumida River (2)

June 2011 (35.6966 Degrees, 139.7899 Degrees) Sobu Rail Line Bridge

Continuing up the Sumida River we arrive at the Sobu Rail Line Bridge. This structure has deep girders and skinny arch ribs for the center span. This arrangement, with the arch only for axial compression while the girders resist moment, shear, and axial tension is called a Langer arch bridge. It was completed in 1932 and carries many trains a day so it must be a successful design. The main span is almost 100 m long. The bridge carries the Sobu Rail Line between Asakusabashi and Ryogoku Stations. In this photo the Metropolitan Expressway is along the river's east bank and Tokyo's Sky Tree is becoming more visible.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Sobu Rail Line Bridge across the Sumida River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.