On July 23, the reporter learned from China Railway Shanghai Group Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Communications Group that the pile foundations for the No. 5 main pier of the Taoyaomen road-rail dual-purpose bridge and the No. 21 main pier of the Fuchimen road-rail dual-purpose bridge on the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway have been completed. This marks that the two *** bridges have jointly entered the water construction stage, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent construction of the main pier caps and tower bases.

The Taoyaomen and Fuchimen road-rail dual-purpose bridges are shared sea-crossing bridges of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway and the Ningbo-Zhoushan Expressway duplicate line crossing the Taoyaomen and Fuchimen waterways. Among them, the Jintang to Dasha section of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Expressway duplicate line is managed by a project company led by Zhejiang Communications Group, implemented by the Zhoushan Bridge Construction Management Center, and constructed by China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group. As the second expressway connecting Zhoushan Island with Ningbo, once completed it will greatly ease the pressure on Zhoushan's external transportation and further open up Zhoushan's economic and geographic space.

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Fuchimen road-rail dual-purpose bridge, photographed by Qi Chunhan

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Taoyaomen road-rail dual-purpose bridge, photographed by Qi Chunhan

The 76.4-kilometer Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway starts from Ningbo East Station in the west, passes through Yinzhou District and Beilun District of Ningbo, crosses the newly built Jintang subsea tunnel to Jintang Island of Zhoushan, crosses newly built sea-crossing bridges to Cezi Island and Zhoushan Main Island, and ends at Baiquan Town of Dinghai District. It has seven stations: Ningbo East, Yunlong, Qiu'ai, Beilun West, Jintang, Ma'ao and Zhoushan. With a design speed of 250 kilometers per hour, it is a high-speed railway that mainly serves medium- and long-distance tourist passenger flows while also accommodating intercity passenger flows between Zhoushan and Ningbo. It is also intended to build Zhejiang Province's "one-hour traffic circle" and form a convenient passenger transport corridor between the mainland and Zhoushan Island.

Once the project is completed, it will end the history of the Zhoushan Archipelago having no railway access, and Zhoushan, the prefecture-level city in the Yangtze River Delta ** without high-speed rail access, will join the national railway network. It is of great significance for improving the railway network layout, promoting tourism development along the route, realizing the integrated and co-urbanized development of Ningbo and Zhoushan, and accelerating the deep integration of Zhoushan and Ningbo into the "Belt and Road" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt development.