Sarapul Viaduct

The Sarapul Viaduct is an old railway structure next to the village of Druzhinino in the Nizhneserginsky district of Sverdlovsk Oblast. It crosses the Utka River and consists of two parallel spans set side by side — a layout known as a paired viaduct. The structure belongs to the historic Kazan – Sarapul – Yekaterinburg line, which, together with other sections, forms the Kazan route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Druzhinino station, next to which the viaduct stands, remains a junction point on this route to this day.

History

Construction of the viaduct began in the autumn of 1913 as part of building the Kazanburg railway, a line meant to connect Kazan with Yekaterinburg and give the main railway another route to the east. The work stretched over several years and effectively continued until 1919: it was affected by the difficult wartime conditions of the period — first the First World War, then the events that followed it. Surveying and construction on this section were led by chief railway engineer E. F. von Klevezal. Building the paired viaduct across the Utka River was one of the most labour-intensive tasks on the whole line.

Legends

According to local residents, in the 1940s limestone was carried across the viaduct that was used to produce a special steel for tank armour. There is no documentary confirmation of this story, but it is passed down in the village as part of the memory of the war years and of the role the railway through Druzhinino played at the time.

What it looks like today

Today the viaduct in Druzhinino is an old bridge that has long been out of use for train traffic. It is unguarded and open for anyone to visit: you can walk across the structure itself or go down and look at the piers and spans from below, from the Utka River. Two more similar viaducts from the same period survive in the area around the village — together they form a notable group of old railway engineering structures for these parts.

How to get there

The easiest way to reach the viaduct is by suburban train to Druzhinino station, followed by about a two-kilometre walk. By car, the structure can be approached from either the northern or the southern side of the village.