A 76-kilometer-long high-speed railway, linking two key prefecture-level cities in Anhui Province in East China, has ushered new progress when builders began to install steel beams for the main body of the Maanshan section of the Branch Channel Bridge of the railway’s Yangtze River Bridge on August 31, 2023.
Builders from China Railway No.4 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CREC4) started to erect steel beams on the Maanshan side of the Branch Channel Bridge of the Yangtze River Highway and Railway Bridge at Maanshan.
The Chaohu-Maanshan HSR, starting its construction on October 28, 2019, is scheduled to start operation in 2026. Maanshan, a prefecture-level city sitting on both banks of the Yangtze, the country’s longest river, borders the provincial capital of Hefei on the west, while Chaohu is a county-level city under Hefei.
The Branch Channel Bridge, which is 840 meters long, is a truss-beam inclined bridge with double towers. While its upper layer serves as a two-way six-lane urban expressway, its lower layer will be used as a two-way four-track railway.
The CREC4 builders used a CQ1800B-type beam erecting crane, which is the largest of its kind in China, to lift the steel truss beam. The whole lifting process was smooth and in order, with precise alignment and stable placement, thus ensuring the smooth lifting of high-altitude and heavy steel beams to be installed into their positions.
Starting from Chaohu East Railway Station, the Chaohu-Maanshan HSR will extend eastward through Hanshan County, Hexian County, Zhengpu Port New Area, Dangtu County, Maanshan’s Economic Development Zone, Yushan District and Huashan District, before ending at Maanshan East Station. With a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour for the trains, the HSR will have five stations, including Chaohu East (existing), Hanshan, Zhengpu Port, Maanshan South and Maanshan East (existing).
Upon operational, the HSR will add a new and fast link to both sides of the Yangtze River, marking great significance in connecting the Hefei metropolitan area and the Nanjing metropolitan area in neighboring Jiangsu Province, and boosting the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region as well as the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.