World's longest span arch bridge starts assembly in SW China

The world's longest span arch bridge, NuJiang Railway Bridge, in southwest China's Yunnan province has entered the critical stage of main structural assembly on March 9, 2017. It is a project along the Sino-Myanmar Railway.

(file photo of the NuJiang Railway Bridge) 

Located at the junction of the Shidian county and Longling county in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the NuJiang Railway Bridge will have a total length of 1,024 meters. The height of the bridge above the river will be 211 meters. The bridge will mainly use steel truss arch beams with a span of 490 meters.

(file photo of the NuJiang Railway Bridge)

The construction of the NuJiang Railway Bridge will use over 46,000 tons of steel. It will require rare precision in the manufacturing of the steel trusses, and pose high risks in terms of assembling steel trusses at high-altitude.

The Sino-Myanmar Railway linking China's Kunming and Myanmar's Yangon covers a total length of 1,920 kilometers, among which, a 690-km-long section is in the territory of China. A 350-km-long railway from Kunming to Dali in China has been built. With the Nujiang Railway Bridge, the 340-km-long railway linking Dali and Ruili will help to reducethe current travel time of 7 hours to about 2 hours by train.