Victoria Bridge, also known as Enggor bridge, is Malaysia’s oldest railway bridge. Located slightly north of Perak’s old capital Kuala Kangsar, it crosses the Perak River at Karai. Perak was the first sultanate on the peninsula to sign a treaty with the British, which began its colonial era. A mining boom followed, making colonial Perak a major global producer of tin.
To transport that tin, the first railway in Perak was constructed in 1897, including a railway bridge to cross the Perak River. It was designed by British engineers, but built by approximately 500 native and migrant Indian laborers. The project was complicated by two floods, but after 28 months it was finally completed. Named after the British Queen Victoria, the bridge was officially inaugurated on March 21, 1900 by Perak’s Sultan Idris.
The bridge later became a strategic position during the Japanese invasion in the Second World War. Advancing south from Thailand, the Japanese army forced the retreat of the second Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, the 12th Indian Brigade, and the 5/14 Punjab Battalion. The British engineers blew up the bridge to prevent its capture. Nonetheless, the Japanese forces crossed on pontoons and rebuilt it in six months. The bridge saw further action during the Malayan Emergency and Communist Insurgency periods in the 1950s through to the 1980s.
In 2002, a new railway bridge replaced the Victoria. Today, visitors can walk across the decommissioned bridge and learn its history.
