On April 1, with all pile foundation drilling for the No. 138 main pier of the main bridge of the Changsha Xiangjiang Railway Grand Bridge completed, a key control project of the Hunan section of the Changsha-Ganzhou High-Speed Railway achieved an important milestone breakthrough. This won valuable time for subsequent construction and laid a solid foundation for the full-line construction of the Changsha-Ganzhou High-Speed Railway.

As an important component of the "Yuxia Corridor," one of the main corridors of the national "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network, the Hunan section of the Changsha-Ganzhou High-Speed Railway officially began construction in July 2025. The main bridge of the Changsha Xiangjiang Railway Grand Bridge, whose pile foundation drilling was completed this time, has a total length of 768.1 meters and adopts a cable-stayed bridge design, crossing the main navigation channel of the right branch of the Xiangjiang River and situated adjacent to an existing railway, with extremely high construction difficulty and safety risks.

Following the No. 137 main pier pile foundation, which was completed first on March 17, the pile foundation drilling for the No. 138 main pier was successfully completed in 69 days, demonstrating the project's tackling capability and construction speed through solid achievements. Project Deputy Manager Peng Cong stated: "The smooth completion of the pile foundation drilling construction for the No. 138 main pier would not have been possible without the day-and-night dedication and hard work of all construction personnel in overcoming difficulties."

Compared with the completed pile foundation construction of the No. 137 main pier, the pile foundation construction of the No. 138 main pier faced more formidable challenges: a shallow overburden layer, bedrock strength of up to 140 MPa, and markedly inclined and undulating rock surfaces. Affected by the inclined rock surface and geological undulations, almost every pile at the No. 138 main pier has a different length, with an average pile length 6 meters longer than that of the No. 137 main pier, imposing higher requirements on construction precision and process control. The inclined rock conditions greatly hindered drilling construction, making it prone to problems such as hole deviation, drill jamming, and hole collapse, significantly increasing construction difficulty.

"The smooth completion of the pile foundation drilling for the No. 138 main pier marks a major step forward in the critical task of the No. 138 main pier pile foundation," said Peng Cong. Next, the project will fully shift to pile concreting for the main pier foundations and steel cofferdam trench milling for the pile cap, building a solid foundation for engineering safety and quality with higher standards and stricter requirements.

After the Changsha-Ganzhou High-Speed Railway is completed and opened to traffic, it will greatly shorten the travel time and distance between Changsha and Ganzhou as well as cities along the route, further optimize the railway network structure in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area and along the route, strengthen connectivity between the central region and the southeastern coastal region, effectively enhance coordination and linkage between the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the West Taiwan Strait Economic Zone, promote interregional industrial collaboration and efficient flow of production factors, and provide solid and reliable transportation support for the high-quality economic and social development of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

Source:Hubei Daily