On June 28, 2020, China Railway Group issued an announcement that the Wuhu Yangtze River Public Railway Bridge, designed by China Railway Bridge Survey and Design Institute and constructed by China Railway Bridge Bureau, was opened to traffic. The bridge is the world's first high-low tower and railway cable-stayed bridge. Although not tall, it is a monument across the Yangtze River.

The Wuhu Yangtze River Public Railway Bridge is an important part of the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou Railway and the backbone network of the Wuhu city's cross-river transportation. It is a public-rail combined bridge that integrates passenger dedicated lines, urban rail transit, and urban main roads. The upper layer is bidirectional For eight-lane urban roads, the lower level is the two-lane passenger dedicated line and the two-lane city track line constructed according to the intercity railway (reserved) standard.

The bridge is the world's first high- and low-tower tower-rail cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 588 meters. The No. 2 main tower is 155 meters high and the No. 3 main tower is 130.5 meters high. Compared with other cable-stayed bridges, the tower height above the main tower of the bridge is only half of the normal tower height.

As there is an airport near the bridge, considering the height limitation and navigation requirements of the bridge, the bridge adopts the design of an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge with large span and high and low towers. The north bank tower is 155 meters high and the south bank tower is 130.5 meters high. The height of the tower above the bridge deck is only half of the normal tower height. "Compared to other long-span cable-stayed bridges, the Wuhu Yangtze River Railway Railway Bridge is unique in its characteristics. It adopts a brother's short tower and a narrow and wide "pear-shaped waist" structure, which is called the "short man" of the bridge. Liu Ailin, the chief engineer of the project department of the Wuhu Yangtze River Public Railway Bridge of Shanghe-Hangzhou Railway, introduced that due to the tower shortness, in order to increase the upward force, the stay cable was hung on the railway bridge surface, and the stay cable was made of zinc-alloy coated steel wire with a diameter of 7 mm. With a strength of up to 2000 MPa and a maximum specification of 547 wires, it is currently the world's largest parallel wire cable stay, with a pulling force of up to 1600 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of more than 1300 cars. For general bridges, the width of highway decks and railway decks is basically the same, or the width of highway decks is wider than railways. However, the width of the road deck of this bridge is smaller than that of the railway bridge. The road surface is 35 meters wide and the railway bridge is 45.2 meters wide.

"The bridge structure is very special. The design of this asymmetric structure of high and low towers is the first in the world, but it also brings us a series of challenges in construction." China Railway Bridge Bureau Deputy Chief Economist, Shanghe-Hangzhou Railway Wuhu Liu Xingfu, the project manager of the Yangtze River Highway Railway Bridge, said that in order to ensure the balanced force of the two towers, the spans and the number of cable stays on both sides of the main tower of the bridge are different. The cables and main beams required to withstand the force will be greater. In response to these difficulties, the bridge has adopted a series of new materials, new technologies, and new processes in its construction, and has achieved "1 world first, 2 domestic leading, 10 innovative technologies, more than 20 patents" and other scientific and technological innovations.

The Wuhu Yangtze River Railway Bridge is a control project for the newly built Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou Railway. The Shanghe-Hangzhou Railway is an important part of the Beijing-Hong Kong (Taiwan) passageway and the Beijing-Shanghai passageway of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network. It will realize the diversion of passenger and freight transportation in the second channel of East China, and will form an interconnection with the intercity railway in the Yangtze River Delta, which will greatly ease the transportation pressure of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail and the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail. Editor/Peng Xue