[070314.EN.BIZ] Construction Starts On World's Longest Cable-stayed Road/Rail Bridge

THE bridge over Yangtze River connecting Shanghai and Nantong, which is a crucial component of the Shanghai-Nantong Railway, has started construction, Xinhua reports. 

The bridge will have four rail lines and six highway lanes and run 11.07 kilometres end to end with the main span covering 1,092 metres, and will be the longest the cable-stayed road and rail bridge in the world, and will take an hour for a high-speed train to cross it.

Shanghai-Nantong Railway is an important part of China's national coastal railway network and Yangtze River Delta high-speed railway network. It starts from Pingdong station of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, crosses the Yangtze at Nantong to Zhangjiagang, and splits into two lines at Taicang.

One line links to Anting Station of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, and the other connects Shanghai's Pudong Railway. The trains have a designed speed of 200 kilometres per hour.

Shanghai-Nantong Railway connects Xinyi-Changxing Railway, Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway and the planned Qingdao-Lianyungang Railway in the north. It is said to be the most convenient means of travel from eastern Shandong province, northern Jiangsu province to Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and eastern Zhejiang.

Being a part of the railway, the Shanghai-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge also serve as an expressway between northern and southern Jiangsu and relieve the traffic pressure at other crossing points. 

Source : HKSG.