Baishatuo Yangtze River Railway Bridge, Railway bridge in Chongqing, China.
The Baishatuo Yangtze River Railway Bridge is a riveted steel truss bridge between Dadukou and Jiangjin districts in Chongqing. It is 820.3 m long with 16 spans: four 80 m through-truss spans over the main channel and 40 m deck-plate girder spans on the approaches. Its deck sits about 20 m above the water, and the piers are concrete, cast with 37,000 m³ of concrete.
Construction began on 10 September 1958 at Luohuang on the south bank and the bridge opened on 10 December 1959, making it Chongqing's first Yangtze crossing and the second railway bridge on the main river after Wuhan (1957). It was initially named Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge and took its present name after the Shibanpo bridge opened. The last train crossed on 23 April 2019; demolition began in March 2023.
The bridge was first named Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge; it took the Baishatuo name once the Shibanpo bridge claimed the original. Armed police guarded it because it carried a trunk railway, and pedestrians had to show a work pass or permit to cross. Before the Yuguai line opened, 34 pairs of trains crossed daily, at 95% of line capacity.
The bridge was closed to rail traffic on 24 April 2019 and is being dismantled; since 25 October 2022 it has been fenced off and pedestrians are barred. The last train, service 5630 from Zunyi, crossed at 17:42 on 23 April 2019. Plans announced by Dadukou and Jiangjin districts call for a heritage park on the Dadukou side, where dismantled spans are to be kept.
The bridge was designed for a 20-year service life, as the Three Gorges project, Chongqing's rail hub and city planning were all undecided when it was drawn up. It lasted six decades. Its piers also revealed scour problems: after more than 100 ship collisions, dives in 1964 and 1974 found 1.55 m of rock scoured away at pier 3.
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