Background
A little-known fact today: the original plan for crossing the Volga called for a tunnel rather than a bridge. In 1914, the "Special Commission for the Organization of the Nizhny Novgorod Railway Junction" considered both options — bridge and tunnel. It was noted that operating a bridge crossing would entail a constant risk of its destruction during the ice drift. The conclusion was: "Crossing the Volga on the Nizhny Novgorod–Kotelnich line is preferable by means of an underwater tunnel."
However, this unusual structure was not destined to be built: war broke out in 1914 and construction of the railway line was suspended. It resumed in 1918, already under Soviet power.
The construction project was declared a "shock communist" effort. The most active work was carried out on the southern section of the future line, on the Nizhny Novgorod side. In summer, the freight and rolling stock needed for construction were transported across the Volga by steamship. Soviet power abandoned the underwater tunnel project.
In its place, construction of a railway bridge got under way in the 1920s.