The iron-lattice structure was first commissioned and made in Hungary and was planned to bridge the Neretva river in Jablanica.
By mistake, it was made shorter by 4 meters, so it was moved to Mostar and installed as the Bridge of Emperor and King Franz Joseph I.
The existing latticework of the demolished railway bridge, which after its demolition in 1968 fell to the left bank of the Neretva, has remained to this day with the necessary works on protection against further collapse and deterioration.
However, in 1991, the swollen Neretva river ripped off entire new section of the bridge, both steel and wooden elements.
A major reconstruction project has been prepared and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Electricity Company pledged to finance and work to rebuild the bridge.
Alistair MacLean's 1968 thriller novel Force 10 From Navarone, subsequently filmed, also brings forth the fight of outnumbered Partisans against Germans and Chetniks, and the blowing up of the Neretva bridge.