On April 30, the Bancang River Bridge, a major and difficult control project of the Yichang-Xingshan Railway undertaken by China Railway First Group, was successfully closed.

The Yichang-Zhengzhou-Wanzhou high-speed railway connecting line is a major project for implementing the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy. It starts from Yichang East Station and connects to Xingshan Station on the Zhengzhou-Wanzhou high-speed railway, with a total length of 108.5 kilometers. Once completed and opened to traffic, transportation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt will be further optimized, which is of great significance for promoting local economic and social development.

The Bancang River Bridge closed this time has a total length of 312.56 meters and is a major and difficult control project for the entire line. The bridge crosses the Bancang River diagonally and connects directly to the tunnel through steep cliffs in both directions. It has five spans, four piers and two abutments, among which the main pier No. 3 is 101 meters high, equivalent to the height of a 31-story building, and is the tallest pier within the China Railway First Group section.

The Bancang River Bridge adopts a "110+113 meter" cantilever-assembled T-frame continuous girder and uses the traveling formwork cantilever casting method for construction. During casting, it is poured segment by segment, with a pumping height of more than 110 meters. To ensure the smooth closure of the main bridge, the China Railway First Group project department used modeling and third-party monitoring assistance while controlling errors to ensure the entire alignment is aesthetically pleasing. During construction, the closure of the main span is an important process for controlling the stress condition and alignment of the entire bridge, and is also the key process with the greatest technical difficulty, the highest safety risk and the most difficult quality control in the entire bridge construction. To ensure the smooth closure of the main span, the project department continuously optimized the construction plan, strictly controlled quality, tracked and observed the conditions at each stage of the casting construction and made timely adjustments, minimizing construction deviations within the smallest allowable range and ensuring that the concrete casting quality meets requirements.

The closure of the Bancang River Bridge marks the completion of the main structure of all bridge projects within the section managed by China Railway First Group. Next, the project will fully shift to above-line ancillary works and ballastless track construction.