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
2008

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The Yexihe Railway Bridge is one of 5 spans over 100 meters in height on the incredible Yi-Wan Railway line that runs between Yichang near the 3 Gorges Dam to Wanxian and Chongqing City on the Yangtze River. With more than 70 percent of the route either in a tunnel or on a bridge, the complex geology of the terrain has forced the engineers to overcome landslides, falling rock and steep terrain. The 5 bridges that exceed 100 meters in height also include Luobuxi, Mashuihe, Dukouhe and Longwangmiao. That high bridge total reaches 8 if the spans are counted on the route from Yichang to Chongqing City.

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 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.