Main structure of super bridge on China-Laos railway completes in Yunnan
7/30/2020




The main structure of a super bridge on the China-Laos Railway was completed in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Wednesday, marking a 90 percent completion of the line's bridge projects within China and laying the foundation for the completion of the whole line next year.

Located in Pu'er City of Yunnan, the double-line super bridge crossing the Munai River is a key project of the China-Lao Railway running from the provincial capital Kunming of Yunnan to Lao capital Vientiane.

Spanning 1,110 meters, the bridge is held up by a total of 24 piers and abutments, with the highest one standing 67 meters.

Limited in space for constructors, the bridge has to go over an expressway, which posed challenges to the project. To cope with these problems, the constructors operated in segments and applied multiple methods.

"Considering some objective factors like construction cost, limitations of terrains and topographic features, and requests of aesthetic outlook and applicability, this bridge is designed to combine various formations of beams," said Yang Jing, manager of Second Division of Yuxi - Mohan Railway Project Department, China Railway No.8 Engineering Group Co.,Ltd.

An optimized construction method was employed to ensure both the normal construction of the bridge and smooth traffic of the expressway beneath it.

"We didn't build a support structure as it affects the road traffic underneath the bridge, we hoisted the bridge section and crossed it over the road," said Yang.

Further installation of ancillary facilities like the waterproof layer, ballast wall and sound barrier will be carried out following the joint of side spans.

The China-Laos railway under construction is more than 1,000 kilometers long with a design speed of 160 kilometers per hour. It is expected to be completed and open to traffic by the end of next year. By then, it will take only three hours to travel from Kunming to border city Jinghong of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, saving the travel time by about four hours. Meanwhile, the journey from Kunming to Lao capital Vientiane is also expected to finish within one day.