Concrete-filled Arch Railway Bridge, China

Beipanjiang River Bridge located near Liupanshui City in the west of Guizhou Province in China was successfully rotated and completed in January, 2001. This is a world record singletrack railway concrete-filled steel tubular arch with a 236 m main span. It is also the heaviest bridge constructed using the central bearing horizontal rotating method. The bridge crosses Beipanjiang River at Yunnan Guizhou Plateau. It is a precipitous canyon only 200 m wide, but the depth from railway level to the gorge bottom is 280 m. Both banks hang vertically. The waterflow can be torrential. The construction of this bridge has opened up areas of north-west of China where there are high grade coal deposits.