Workers started work on the first pile foundation for a rail-road bridge over Haitan Strait in eastern Fujian province on May 16.

The pile foundation is being installed on the Renyu islet near Changle county, the starting point of the Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge linking Changle and Pingtan.

Workers are also building a trestle bridge and an offshore operation platform nearby to accommodate the construction of the bridge.

Hammering pile foundations in the sea will be especially difficult in Haitan Strait, given its complicated geographical and weather conditions such as gales, deep water, strong waves and currents, according to workers.

The construction has adopted Haili 801, a world-class pile driver for construction of the bridge. It will use more powerful equipment such as a top-head drive drill, automatic climbing formwork as well as Asia’s largest heavy lift vessel with a capability of 3,600 tons.

Background

The Pingtan Haixia Railroad Bridge will be a 16.3-km cross-sea bridge. The upper level of the bridge will include a two-way six-lane highway, and the lower level will feature a double-track railway.

The cross-sea rail link is part of the 88-km Fuzhou-Pingtan railway. It will start from Songxia Port in neighboring Changle county, stretch southeast over the Yuanhong channel, the Guyumen channel, Changyu Island, Xiaolian Island, the Xiaolian-Dalian island channel, Dalian Islet, Haitan Strait, and finally reach Suao town on Pingtan Island.

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