Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge Qiubei

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Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge Qiubei
丘北南盘江大桥
Qiubei, Yunnan, China
860 feet high / 262 meters high
1,365 foot span / 416 meter span
2015


The giant Nanpanjiang River railway arch is the crown jewel of bridges on the 710 kilometer high speed railway line between Kunming and Nanning. The main span of 416 meters ranks 3rd among all the world's concrete arches. Located west of Qiubei city, the Nanpanjiang has always been Yunnan's second greatest river after the Jinshajiang (Yangtze River) and represented a formidable challenge to the bridge engineers.

Designed to carry trains that will reach speeds of 250 kilometers an hour, the 852 meter crossing has a main arch with a rise of 99 meters and a rise to span ratio of 4.2. The arch ring cross section has three cells within a single-box with equal depth of 8.5 meters and a variable width of 18 to 28 meters. The width of the arch at the springing is 28 meters. The width of the arch crown is 18 meters. Double-column framed piers are used for supporting the deck. The piers rise 102 meters at the abutments with the tallest spandrel column on the arch rising 58 meters. Steel tubular trusses filled with concrete were used as a skeleton during construction before it was encased in concrete. The stay cables placed at the abutment pier were post-tensioned step by step during the concrete-pouring to assist the skeleton in load carrying.

The dual line width of unballasted track is 4.6 meters.



Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge Qiubei Elevation


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Image by Georges.


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Image by flily.


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A rare view of the arch taken from the inaccessible Bei Pan River gorge. The photographer chose to remove the footbridge with a program like Photoshop.


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Image by flily.


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A passenger train rolls across the arch in this August, 2011 view. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Transportation fan Roger Perrin watches as a train comes out of the West tunnel. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Local farmers also use the walkways to get across the river canyon. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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A construction view from 2000.


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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A huge footbridge was built across the gorge to allow bridge workers access to both sides of the arch construction. With a maximum vertical deck to water distance of 650 feet (198 meters), this is the highest catenary footbridge ever built. Despite its dilapidated condition, I ventured across the chicken wire walkway in August of 2011. Travel mates Roger Perrin and Georges thought I was a bit crazy. This once-in-lifetime experience made for some great photos as well as bragging rights of being the only person outside of China to have crossed such a high, Tibet-style footbridge. The 656 foot long (200 meter) long structure is composed of 6 parallel cables that support a wire mesh. On the East side there are 2 wind stabilizing cables. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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A view looking 650 feet (198 meters) straight down! Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Georges checks out the bridge in 2011. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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A simple steel frame holds the hand cables while a concrete anchorage holds the 6 deck cables. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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There are catwalks on 3 different levels of the arch including the top, bottom and inside the truss. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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The new G56 expressway was under construction in the summer of 2011 and passes alongside the older railway line. Once it is open to traffic in 2012 the once inaccessible railway bridge will be easy to see by simply pulling over on the highway. There are many viaducts that traverse along the steep slopes of the Beipanjiang river as well as a huge crossing of the river itself on a massive concrete beam viaduct 820 feet (250 meters) above the river. There are two other nearby beam viaducts over 100 meters high. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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The impressive Laoyingyan Bridge can be seen from the arch. Translated as Eagle Rock Bridge, the 4-lane crossing has two main spans of 160 meters and a height of approximately 150 meters though the roadway is 300 meters above the elevation of the Bei Pan River. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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A view of the rotatable foundation before it was sealed in to become one solid foundation block.


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com


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The railway line crosses the bridge and then makes a tear-drop shaped loop of almost 270 degrees before it continues south for a long climb out of the river valley that includes a double helix and several more long tunnels. Image by flily.


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Beipanjiang arch bridge plan.


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An elevation of the railway line descent shows just how unforgiving the Beipanjiang River gorge is to engineers who must confront elevation differences of up to 1,000 meters.


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Beipanjiang Railway Bridge location map showing the many small villages in the mountains surrounding the Bei Pan River gorge. The rail line path over the river is incorrectly shown to be too far north as well as not showing the helix.


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Beipanjiang River Railway Bridge satellite image.