Recently, the section from Shangang Station (exclusive) to Lanshan Port Station of the Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway, constructed by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, was officially opened, marking the full opening of the entire Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway.

Full opening and operation of the Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway

The Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway is the external transport hub of Rizhao Port. It is built to the standard of an electrified, single-track freight railway, with a planned construction period of 24 months. The line has a total length of 44 km, including 31.57 km of newly built main line and 7 extra-large bridges, covering multiple construction elements such as railway-crossing swivel bridges, cantilever-cast girders over expressways, and precast girders. At many locations it passes underneath and over heavy-haul railways, high-speed railways, and municipal roads, presenting high technical difficulty.

"Zero settlement" underneath the Wari Railway

During construction of the underneath crossing of the Wari Railway, the builders first placed a precast frame bridge at the Wari Railway subgrade, then used 12 sets of 400-ton jacks to jack it forward 42 meters within 6 days, "replacing beams with columns" without affecting Wari Railway operations and embedding the frame bridge into the Wari Railway subgrade. At the same time, the builders used a transverse-lifting and longitudinal-supporting track reinforcement technique to reinforce the Wari line, and installed protective piles, support piles, and anti-displacement piles on site to effectively protect the Wari line subgrade slope and prevent lateral displacement of the track, ultimately completing this domestically rare construction of a freight railway passing underneath a 10,000-ton-class heavy-haul railway with "zero settlement."

Swivel construction of the bridge crossing the Qingyan Railway

During the swivel construction of the bridge on the Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway that crosses the Qingyan Railway, because this swivel bridge involves a freight railway crossing a passenger high-speed railway, the safety risk was high and construction difficulty was great. To address this, the builders carried out technical research during construction, repeatedly verified the scheme, and adopted the method of "first cast-in-place on scaffolding parallel to the railway, then horizontal swivel" for the rotation. Ultimately, the bridge was rotated counterclockwise by 58 degrees and successfully crossed the existing railway in 1 hour and 12 minutes.

Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway

The Rizhao Lanshan Port-Connecting Railway is a supporting project of a major project for Shandong Province's conversion of old and new growth drivers, and also an important component of the supporting projects for China's "Belt and Road" key ports. After the project is opened and put into operation, goods will be transferred from rail to sea transport, which is of great significance for further leveraging Rizhao Port's throughput advantage as the only coastal major port in China with two trunk railways of more than 1,000 km directly connecting to the port area, accelerating Shandong Province's conversion of old and new growth drivers, and promoting local and hinterland economic and social development.