Recently, as Sunward's super rotary drilling rig SWDM1280 began drilling the first pile at Pier No. 5 of the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge on the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, it marked important phased progress in the foundation construction of the main pier of the world's largest-span rail-road bridge.

Timeline

◆ In January this year, Sunward's super rotary drilling rig SWDM1280 was deployed to the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge.

◆ In February, with advanced technology, stable performance and reasonable construction methods, it overcame challenges such as "strong winds, high waves, deep water, rapid currents and bare rock" and began drilling the first pile at Pier No. 6, becoming the world's largest rotary drilling rig in actual operation and breaking the record of Sunward's SWDM1000 rotary drilling rig.

◆ At present, after successfully completing the pile foundation construction task at Pier No. 6, the equipment has smoothly moved to Pier No. 5 to continue supporting the project construction.

It is understood that Pier No. 5 of the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge project is the main tower pier. The construction area has strong winds and rough waves, complex geology, and water depth of more than 60 meters, which brings certain difficulties to platform positioning and the driving of support piles. To overcome construction challenges, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway project department of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group developed an offshore floating steel truss drilling platform, with an area equivalent to 31 standard basketball courts.

△ Sunward's super rotary drilling rig previously worked at Pier No. 6.

At the same time, China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, together with Sunward and Wuhan Lecheng, adapted to the pile foundation construction environment, pile types and stratum characteristics of the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge and used super-large-diameter engineering piles with a diameter of 6.3 meters, the largest diameter among bridge engineering piles in the world. The first drilling by Sunward's super rotary drilling rig SWDM1280 at Pier No. 5 means it has once again surpassed the previous maximum drilling diameter record of 4.5 meters set by the same equipment, setting a new record with a 6.3-meter diameter borehole.

Since the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge was awarded for construction in October last year, progress has been smooth. The construction contractor plans to complete the bored pile construction of the main tower pier by the end of this year and expects to complete the civil engineering of the entire bridge before the end of April 2028. As an important section of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway project, the Xihoumen Rail-Road Bridge is of great significance for accelerating the integration of Zhoushan and Ningbo into the "Belt and Road" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

As a leading enterprise in pile foundation machinery, Sunward adheres to the concept of "pilot innovation" and has long insisted on using engineering to drive equipment development and using equipment to support engineering realization. In the future, it will also make every effort to support major projects such as the "Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway Project" and lead the development of the industry.