At around 2 a.m. on July 23, with the completion of the final concrete pour, the continuous beam of the Longtan River Grand Bridge on the Ankang-Chongqing section (the "Kangyu section") of the Xi'an-Chongqing High-Speed Railway was successfully closed. This is the first continuous beam to be closed on the entire Kangyu section, marking a new stage in the project's construction.

The Longtan River Grand Bridge is located in Guang'an City, Sichuan Province, with a total length of about 1,253 meters. It was designed by China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group and constructed by China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group. The bridge consists of 35 simply supported spans and one continuous beam unit; the continuous beam crosses the Longtan River, and the tallest pier reaches 44.5 meters.

Closure is one of the key milestones in bridge construction. Li Donghong, project manager of Section 10 of the Kangyu section of the Xi'an-Chongqing High-Speed Railway under China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group, explained that in order to achieve the best pouring results, the concrete pour was deliberately scheduled for the early morning hours when temperatures are low and the temperature difference is small, ensuring that all control indicators meet specification requirements and guaranteeing the quality of the bridge closure.

The Xi'an-Chongqing High-Speed Railway is an important component of China's "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed rail network, forming part of the Beijing-Kunming corridor and the Baotou (Yinchuan)-Haikou corridor, and holds a highly important position in the rail network. The project has a total length of 739 kilometers and a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and is being built in two sections: Xi'an-Ankang and Ankang-Chongqing. The Ankang-Chongqing section has a main line length of 478 kilometers, starting from Ankang West Station and passing through Ankang City in Shaanxi Province, Chengkou County in Chongqing, Dazhou City and Guang'an City in Sichuan Province, and Hechuan District and Beibei District in Chongqing, before connecting to Chongqing West Station in the Chongqing hub, with a total of 11 stations.

Once completed, the project will further improve the rail network structure in the central and western regions, greatly facilitate travel for local residents, and be of great significance for comprehensively advancing rural revitalization, supporting urban-rural integration and coordinated regional development, and shaping a new pattern of large-scale development of the western region.