Urban upgrade accelerates in Shandong with new railway in progress

As the country is expanding the operating mileage of railways, constructors from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group are making steady progress in building a new railway in East China's Shandong province.

While building the Longkou-Yantai Railway, CREC4 ushered in a new milestone on June 28 when they finished the topping-out of the main structure of the Guxian South railway station — part of the No 2 bid in the 46.6-kilometer line.

Builders from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group work on casting beams on Fulaishan Station Viaduct on June 25, marking new progress in building the Longkou-Yantai Railway in Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Three days earlier, it finished the cast-in-place beams on Fulaishan Station Viaduct, marking the successful conclusion of the whole line's cast-in-place beams construction and the full completion of the bridge superstructure for the project.

CREC4 staffer Liu Chenyong said the CREC4 Seventh Engineering Co Ltd is constructing 34.6 kilometers of the railway — the first urban rail transit line in Shandong, covering 18 kilometers of roadbed, 16 bridges, 4.62 kilometers of tunnels, 10 station buildings, 698 precast T-shaped beams, and 44 cast-in-place beams, with a total concrete pouring volume of 13,193 cubic meters.

Liu noted that, dubbed a large project with high construction risks, the Guxian South railway station is an elevated platform station on the side of a viaduct line, with a construction area of 2,099.72 square meters and a building height of 11.6 meters.

CREC4 builders complete the topping-out of the main structure of the Guxian South railway station on the Longkou-Yantai Railway in Shandong on June 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

To ensure the success of building the station, the CREC4 project teams prioritized work safety, adopting a more stable buckle bracket for construction, and a detailed construction plan, Liu's colleague Pu Xiao said.

Pu noted that in response to the construction difficulties of the large-span truss of the Fulaishan Station Grand Bridge, the project department optimized the support system and used digital monitoring to help the pouring of beam bodies.

"Our 24-hour dynamic monitoring points were set up on site, covering the mid span and supports, with work data being collected every two hours and any abnormal data immediately stopped for rectification," Pu said.

CREC4 builders finish building the 88-meter continuous beams for the Grand Bridge Traversing Rongcheng–Wuhai Expressway for the Longkou-Yantai Railway. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Liu stressed that, to date, the main civil engineering of the whole line is entering its final stage, with construction of bridge attachments, roadbed protection, tunnel lining, and station building advancing synchronously.

He added that the CREC4 project department will steadily promote the engineering construction and strive to open the line to traffic as soon as possible.

Upon operation, the Longkou-Yantai Railway Urban Upgrade Project will open up the fast east-west transport artery in Yantai city, serving the diversified passenger flows in daily commuting, airports, ferries, and tourism along the route.

Early this year, Chinese railway operator China Railway promised to expand the operating mileage of railways from the current 165,000 kilometers to 180,000 kilometers by the end of 2030.

（chinadaily.com.cn）