Yexihe Railway Bridge

Yexihe Railway Bridge
叶溪河大桥
Langpingzhen, Hubei, China
360 feet high / 110 meters high
354 foot span / 108 meter span
2010

The amazing Yi-wan Railway opened in 2010 as the most difficult train line project ever undertaken in China. The Yichang to Enshi section of the railway bypasses the 3 Gorges stretch of the Yangtze River with a seemingly endless succession of tunnels and bridges. It is rare for any rail line in the world to have a single bridge over 280 feet (85 meters) high - the Yiwan Railway line has fifteen that exceed that height threshold!.

With more than 70 percent of the route either in a tunnel or on a bridge, the complex geology of the terrain forced the engineers to overcome landslides, falling rocks and steep terrain.

The 15 highest bridges include Wanzhou Yangtze, Shuangliu, Sibuhe, Yeyabang, Zhoubadeng, Dukouhe, Yaojiawan, Makou, Mashuihe, Longwangmiao, Yesanhe, Yexihe, Zhaojialing, Shizikou and Luobuxi Bridges.

Located within view of the giant Longtanhe highway bridge on the G50 expressway, the Yexihe Railway Bridge crosses a deep cut along the mountainous run that parallels the G50 for much of its run between Yichang and Enshi in Hubei Province.

The Yexihe bridge is most notable for the two giant oval shaped piers that drop 93.5 meters from the underside of the beam to the top of the foundation. They support a main span configuration of 70+ 108+ 70 meters. With 4 smaller approach spans of 32 meters the entire structure measures 397 meters long. The bridge was completed in 2008 but the rail line did not open for traffic until 2010.