Suehiro Railway Bridge (Former Yokkaichi Port Station Railway Bridge)

Japan's Working Railway Bascule Bridge

The Suehiro Railway Bridge (末広橋梁（旧四日市港駅鉄道橋）) is a railway bascule bridge completed in 1931 over the Chitose Canal of Yokkaichi Port, between Suehiro-cho and Chitose-cho, Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on December 25, 1998. According to Yokkaichi City, it was the first movable bridge to be so designated and is the oldest movable bridge still working.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as four steel plate-girder spans (including one lifting span), two concrete abutments and four concrete piers (including the machine room), with the counterweight, posts and hoisting gear (including the control room); owned by Japan Freight Railway, Central Japan Railway and Mie Prefecture.

Yamamoto Utaro and Yokkaichi Port

According to Yokkaichi City, it was designed by the firm of Yamamoto Utaro, a pioneer bridge consultant; the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it the masterpiece of this specialist in movable bridges. Some 80 movable bridges were built in Japan from the Meiji period on, but only three still operate (Yokkaichi City).

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers named it Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 70 in 2015. The society notes that this 58-metre bascule bridge, completed in December 1931, is the only railway movable bridge still in service; it has carried mainly cement, and large amounts of earth and sand crossed it during construction of Chubu Centrair International Airport.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Suehiro Railway Bridge was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1998 for its technical excellence and high historical value. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it Yamamoto Utaro's masterpiece and notes that, with the facilities of the old port, it shows how Yokkaichi Port developed.

What to Look For

The Suehiro Railway Bridge is 58 metres long and 4 metres wide. Its 16.6-metre central span is hauled up by wire from the top of a 15.6-metre steel tower on the pier and rises to 80 degrees (Mie Tourism). Yokkaichi City likens the motion to a hinge, as cables over the portal frame lift the centre of the bridge.

According to the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, a dogleg-link balancing device keeps the power needed constant whatever the angle of the span, using less power than earlier movable bridges. Normally the span is down for freight wagons, and it rises slowly when a ship passes through the canal (Yokkaichi City).

Visiting the Suehiro Railway Bridge

The exterior of the Suehiro Railway Bridge can be viewed freely; the interior is closed (Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers). According to Mie Tourism, five to ten return freight trains cross daily. Nearby on the Chitose Canal is the Rinko Bridge, a road bascule bridge (Yokkaichi Port Authority).

The bridge is at Suehiro-cho and Chitose-cho, Yokkaichi City, about 20 minutes' walk from Yokkaichi Station on the JR Kansai Line. Enquiries: Yokkaichi City Board of Education, 059-354-8240 (Mie Tourism).