A bridge with a recycled backbone
The Zentsuji overpass joins the north ends of Platforms 1 and 2, carrying passengers over the tracks on the old Sanuki Railway line. It is a steel structure, 16 metres long and 3.1 metres wide, and dates from around 1922, part of the same building effort as the platform shelters beside it.
The remarkable thing is what it is made from. Its brace-stiffened piers and its five-panel, through-type Pratt-truss girders are framed from railway rails, and those rails were rolled by Barrow Steel in Britain in 1889, imported iron given a second working life in the bridge. Above the girders, a gable truss carries the roof, and the whole structure, stairs included, is sheathed in vertical boarding.
A record of early railway material
Reusing 1889 rails is more than thrift. It ties the bridge directly to the earliest years of railway building in Kagawa, when the Sanuki Railway opened its Marugame-to-Kotohira line in 1889 to carry pilgrims across the plain. The same date stamped in the Barrow Steel is the date the line itself began.
That material history is part of why the overpass was registered in 2002, under the historic-landscape criterion, with the two platform shelters. It preserves not only a form of early steel footbridge but a physical trace of imported ironwork from the opening of the line.
What to look for
Look closely at the steel members and you may read them as what they are: rail sections, with the profile of running rail, pressed into service as truss elements. The riveting and the five-panel pattern of the girder reward a slow look from the platform below.
Note too how the vertical boarding wraps the stairs and the walkway, so that from a distance the overpass and the platform shelters share one continuous outer skin. It is a small station, but between the recycled 1889 rails and the timber shelters at its sides, it holds an unusually clear record of how the line was first built.
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Q&A
- What is the overpass made from?
- Its brace-stiffened piers and five-panel through-type Pratt-truss girders are framed from railway rails rolled by Barrow Steel in Britain in 1889, reused as structural members. A gable truss carries the roof above.
- Why are the 1889 rails significant?
- 1889 is the year the Sanuki Railway opened its Marugame-to-Kotohira line. The reused rails tie the bridge directly to the opening of the line and preserve a trace of imported early ironwork.
- How big is the bridge?
- It is a steel structure 16 metres long and 3.1 metres wide, joining the north ends of Platforms 1 and 2. The whole is sheathed in vertical boarding.
- When was it built and registered?
- It dates from about 1922 (Taisho 11) and was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 16 July 2002 (reg. no. 37-0093).
- Can you see the rail sections?
- From the platform below you can study the riveted truss and read the rail profiles pressed into service as truss elements, along with the five-panel girder pattern.
Basic Information
| Name | JR Zentsuji Station Overpass (ＪＲ善通寺駅跨線橋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-7-1 Bunkyocho, Zentsuji, Kagawa (香川県善通寺市文京町1-7-1) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property, registered 16 Jul 2002 (reg. no. 37-0093) |
| Date | c.1922 (about Taisho 11) |
| Structure | Steel; bridge length 16 m, width 3.1 m; five-panel through Pratt truss framed from 1889 Barrow Steel rails; vertical boarding |
| Owner | Shikoku Railway Company / JR Shikoku (四国旅客鉄道株式会社) |
| Access | At the north end of Platforms 1 and 2, Zentsuji Station, Dosan Line |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース — ＪＲ善通寺駅跨線橋
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002825
- 四国旅客鉄道（JR四国）
- https://www.jr-shikoku.co.jp/
- 善通寺市公式ウェブサイト
- https://www.city.zentsuji.kagawa.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.05