At 11:00 on May 31, with the precise connection of the last bridge deck panel and the steel truss girder, the main bridge steel truss girder of the Guanhe Grand Bridge on the Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway, surveyed and designed by China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute, was successfully closed. This bridge is the first double-track railway bridge in China to adopt an integral orthotropic steel deck flexible steel truss girder, and it is also currently the largest-span stiffened leg steel truss flexible arch bridge in China.

The ancient Guanhe River is the cradle of northern Jiangsu civilization. The Guanhe Grand Bridge, a double-track railway bridge, is located at the junction of Lianyungang City and Yancheng City, with a total length of 10.397 kilometers. It is an important control project of the Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway. The bridge crosses rivers and roads more than 40 times, including the 470-meter-long main bridge over the Guanhe River, known as the "Huangpu River" of northern Jiangsu. It is the second bridge in China to adopt the "cantilever assembly + cable-stayed tower auxiliary construction" continuous steel truss flexible arch composite structure, among which the "stiffened leg continuous steel truss flexible arch" is adopted for the first time in China.

This closure is for the flat chord of the steel truss girder. The subsequent flexible arch closure is planned to be completed in mid-August this year. Wen Guisheng, the overall design director of the bridge, introduced that due to the thick soft soil and low bearing capacity at the bridge site on both sides of the Guanhe River, and in response to the characteristics of large railway loads and high requirements for bridge stiffness, in order to meet the requirements of ship navigation, reserved stations, and reducing bridge structure engineering quantities, the main bridge adopted a (120+228+120) meter three-span continuous steel truss flexible arch design scheme, and "stiffened legs" were set at the main truss support points to optimize the stress on the component cross-sections and effectively increase the stiffness of the main truss. The bridge combines the modeling characteristics of truss and arch systems, with a beautiful appearance and coordinated structural proportions. He also introduced that the steel truss installation adopts the cable-stayed tower auxiliary scheme, with beams first and then arches, reducing the impact of construction on the Guanhe River navigation channel, lowering the installation difficulty, and providing a reference for the design and construction of similar bridges in the future.

It is reported that the Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway is an important part of the coastal corridor, with a total length of 234 kilometers and a design speed of 200 kilometers per hour. At present, the main works of bridges and subgrades along the entire line have been basically completed, and the four-electric and station building projects have been fully launched. Bridge laying and erection are entering the final critical stage. The entire project is progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in September 2017.