On November 8, the girder-erection crane of the G3 Tongling Yangtze River Road-Rail Bridge, invested in and constructed by Tongling Communications Investment Group, designed by China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute, and built by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, was successfully relocated as a whole from the south bank to the north bank, marking the first successful integral relocation of a girder-erection crane in China and major progress in the construction of the bridge's critical path.

According to Song Haitao, chief engineer of the First Sub-division of the G3 Bridge Project Department of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, the girder-erection crane consists of the frame structure, traveling system, jacking system, anchoring system, hoisting system, lifting-point longitudinal movement system, electrical and hydraulic systems, walkways and railings, and rear tie-rod conversion mechanism. The crane is 25.92 meters high, 57.05 meters long and 36 meters wide, with a total dead weight of 820 tons and a rated lifting capacity of 1,600 tons, and it is tasked with erecting 38 large-segment steel girders for the G3 Bridge.

"We used two 1,000-ton floating cranes to lift the main structure of the girder-erection crane as a whole from the steel girder on the south bank onto a 10,000-ton transport vessel, transported the crane to the north bank by the vessel, and then lifted it onto the already assembled launching nose with the floating cranes in a tandem lift," said Zou Duan, deputy chief engineer of the First Sub-division of the G3 Bridge Project Department of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group. The tandem lifting operation by two floating cranes on water is like two people carrying a heavy object while wearing ice skates — highly unstable.

Taking into comprehensive account factors such as the floating cranes' lifting radius, lifting height and water level, and to ensure safety, parts including the hoisting system, anchoring system, guiding system and traveling mechanism were removed from the girder-erection crane before relocation, keeping the crane's weight at about 550 tons. During lifting, in view of the offset center of gravity of the girder-erection crane, corbels and lifting lugs were respectively installed on the vertical members and bottom chord members of the frame, and the floating crane hooks were connected to the girder-erection crane through 500-ton shackles and two 300-ton soft slings of different lengths.

The G3 Tongling Yangtze River Road-Rail Bridge features "long span, heavy load and new structure." The route is 11.88 kilometers long in total, of which the main river-crossing bridge is 1,505 meters long with a main span of 988 meters. It is the world's first bridge with a double-deck cable-stayed and suspension cooperative system. Given the great construction difficulty, the successful integral relocation of the 1,600-ton girder-erection crane greatly shortened the assembly time, reduced assembly safety risks, and accumulated advanced experience for future bridge construction.

The G3 Tongling Yangtze River Road-Rail Bridge is an important project for Tongling to improve its comprehensive transportation facilities and achieve cross-river development. It is also the second Yangtze River road-rail bridge undertaken by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group in Tongling after the Tongling Bridge on the Hefei-Fuzhou High-Speed Railway. Once completed, it will be of great significance for building the Hefei-Tongling development belt, comprehensively advancing the construction of the International Cultural Tourism Demonstration Zone in southern Anhui, accelerating coordinated regional economic development, strengthening interconnection in the Yangtze River Delta, and building a modern comprehensive transportation system.