Main Tower of China’s First Cross-Sea High-Speed Railway Bridge Capped

The main tower of the Quanzhou Bay cross-sea bridge of the Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed railway in Southeast China's Fujian province was capped on Sept 15.

Contracted by CCCC Second Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company Ltd., the 20.2-kilometer bridge stretches for about 9 kilometers over the sea and is the country's first cross-sea high-speed railway bridge.

Its main body is an 800-meter double-cable plane reinforced concrete connecting beam cable-stayed bridge with double towers and a semi-floating system. The main span is about 400 meters.

The tower capped on Sept 15 is on the south bank and the one on the north bank is scheduled to be capped this October.

In addition to the bridge, the company was also responsible for another five bridges and two tunnels of the Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed railway.

Starting from Fuzhou in the north, the 277-kilometer railway passes Putian, Quanzhou and Xiamen and terminates at Zhangzhou in the south. It has a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

The railway was an early project to promote the Maritime Silk Road initiative and construction of the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Once operable, travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen will be shortened to an hour, which is significant for the rapid development of the coastal city cluster on the west bank of the Taiwan Strait.

A view of the Quanzhou Bay cross-sea bridge under construction [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)