“Already 24 meters deep!” On January 28, in Xubutou Village, Xiaoguan Town, Nanhai New Area, amid the rumbling sound of drilling, workers were carrying out pile foundation construction for Pier 137 of the Huanglei River Grand Bridge on the Weihai Nanhai New Area section of the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway. The pile foundation at this location will be driven to a depth of 25.38 meters.


　　Despite the cold weather, the construction site of the Nanhai New Area section of the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway is bustling with activity. According to reports, the current focus of the Nanhai New Area section is pile foundation construction. Fifteen pile foundations have been completed so far, and pile foundation construction is expected to be completed before the end of June this year. The reinforcement cages for pile foundation pouring and the materials required for the next phase of construction are all in place. Once pile foundation construction is completed, work will begin on the pile caps and pier columns.


　　Currently, nearly half of the surface attachment clearing work for the Nanhai New Area section of the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway has also been completed. A reporter learned from the Weihai Nanhai New Area Management Committee that Section 3 of the pre-station works for the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway has a total length of 48.46 kilometers and is being constructed by China Construction Eighth Engineering Division. It is expected to open to traffic in April 2024. The entire Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway route passing through Nanhai New Area consists of bridge works, collectively known as the Huanglei River Grand Bridge project. The project includes a total of 1,135 pile foundations, 240 pile caps, 1 abutment, and 240 pier shafts, with a length of 7.669 kilometers within the area. Among them, 7 piers are located within the Huanglei River channel. Due to the high water level in the river channel, the difficulty of in-water construction, and the high safety risk level, this is a key and difficult part of the project. The contractor will use steel sheet pile cofferdams for pier and abutment construction to ensure construction progress and safety.

　　The Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway has a total investment of 29.7 billion yuan and a total length of 192.8 kilometers, starting from Laixi City in the west and ending in Rongcheng City in the east. The entire line has 7 stations: Laixi North Station, Laiyang Dingziwan Station, Haiyang Station, Rushan South Station, Weihai Nanhai Station, Wendeng South Station, and Rongcheng Station. The goal is to complete and open the line within 3 years. Once completed, Weihai will achieve the goal of “high-speed rail access in every county.” Nanhai New Area will also benefit from the high-speed rail's driving effect and enter the fast lane of development. Residents in the area will be able to travel directly via the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway through Laixi to Qingdao, shortening the journey by 1 hour compared with the past, achieving a half-hour travel time within Weihai municipality, 1 hour across the Jiaodong Peninsula, 2 hours within Shandong Province, and a 4-hour rapid transportation circle with central cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.