Two Sections of First Grand Bridge of China-Vietnam Passage Connected

Two sections of the Nanmu Mountain Grand Bridge, the first of its kind of the Fangchenggang-Dongxing railway in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were recently connected, laying a solid foundation for the railway's scheduled beginning of operations.

Contracted by China Railway 16th Bureau Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), the 598.3-meter bridge has 137.5-meter continuous girders.

As the bridge was built over the busy G7511 Qinzhou-Dongxing high-speed railway in Guangxi, traffic safety on the busy highway was highly valued during construction and measures including cantilever casting and the support reaction pre-compression methods were taken, which lowered engineering difficulty and risks.

A major project of China's Belt and Road Initiative, the 46.9-kilometer Fangchenggang-Dongxing railway with a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour will be one of the passages linking Guangxi and the ASEAN countries.

It's worth mentioning that the project has contributed to local employment and promoted poverty alleviation through infrastructure construction and consumption.

About 3,226 people were recruited to work for the railway and more than 370 million yuan ($54.5 million) was spent in purchase of local materials, daily supplies and machinery as well as rentals of residential space since 2019.

What's more, the company built 23.2 kilometers of road, which drives economic development in the affected areas.

So far, 55.9 percent, 60.4 percent, 51.7 percent and 46.3 percent of the tunnels, bridges, subgrades and station building of the project have been completed.

Upon completion, the railway will be connected with railways linking Hanoi, Haiphong and Moncay in Vietnam, which will improve connectivity between China and ASEAN countries and promote development of tourism and related industries in affected areas.

It will be the first railway between Fangchenggang and Dongxing, and once it is operable travel time between the two cities will be shortened to 20 minutes.

Two sections of the Nanmu Mountain Grand Bridge, the first of its kind of the Fangchenggang-Dongxing railway in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, are connected. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)