Rail taking shape

A 12-metre support-abutment of the Mingzhu Road Bridge, part of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Light Railway, was finalized on Mingzhu Road last Tuesday, two months ahead of schedule for aboveground construction.
“It is even more difficult to build these abutments than to pave the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, as they require higher sense of beauty for being constructed in urban areas,” technician Huang Xueming noted. The abutments are composed of a 3-metre tall rectangle and a 9-metre lotus-design structure, which makes it more complicated to construct, he explained. Eight to ten more abutments will be completed by the end of this month, and construction of all 225 abutments for the Mingzhu Station Bridge, Mingzhu Road Bridge, Qianshan Station Bridge and Gangchang Road Bridge will be completed next year, he said.
The substructure and infrastructure of the bridges and 60 per cent of the cast-in-concrete continuous girder is expected to be finished by the end of this year, according to Yan Shengping, chief engineer of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway Project.