Engineering Marvel, Swing the 17,000ton Structure into place

ENGINEERING MARVEL, SWING the 17000-TON STRUCTURE INTO PLACE

The engineer in me has always fascinated me about the latest techniques in any field varying from Electrical to Auto to Civil or to Electronic fields. Lately the digital innovations have surpassed all of them with Apple products dominating human mind. At times, the civil engineering has caught your eyes historically. The monuments and buildings have enhanced value and importance of various places in the world. Some of the marvels have falicitated the amenities to the humanities around the world thus cutting down the time and distance drastically.

Compare the time normally taken for constructing bridges over Railway lines in India with heavy Railway movement- Bridge at Kurla Station to connect Eastern Express to Western has taken more than 8 years:-

Forward-thinking engineers in China are the first in the country to have built a section of an enormous overpass and rotate it into place upon completion so as not to disturb the railways below.

A 17000 ton part of an elevated motorway was today slowly swung into place in Wuhan City after being constructed independently beside a high speed railway track.

Engineers took 90 minutes to carefully swing the 17000 ton structure into place today above a high speed railway track in Wuhan City, Central China

A china Railway High-speed train passes beneath the rotating sector of the bridge today as engineers expertly swivel it into place.

It was the first time the technique had been used in China, with engineers unable to temporarily halt the busy train service in order to build the bridge in place.

Experts took 90 minutes to connect the section to the rest of the bridge, turning it 106 degrees on a 15 meter high axis.

It was the first time the innovative technique had been used in China.

The country has the world's longest high-speed rail network with over 6200 miles of routes in service in Dec 2012.

The track beneath the bridge in Wuhan City was considered too important to be temporarily halted in order for engineer's to complete construction.

Once finished, the overpass will be 256 m long and span 11railways, including the 1428 mile long Beijing-Guangzhou service.

The 17000 ton structure is slowly brought into place in by engineers after weeks of construction. The unusual technique has been used in UK in the past, though never before in China.

The sector is connected to the rest of the  bridge after 90 minutes. 

A similar technique was used to construct the Grade I listed Kings-gate Bridge across the River Wear in Durham

In 1968. Designed in 1963 by Sir Ove Arup, the bridge's two halves were built on the river's bank and swung together at 90 degrees.

Experts estimate the bridge will be open to traffic later this month