Beipanjiang Railway Bridge Qinglong The highest and largest highspeed railway arch and Guangzhao dam. 世界高铁第一桥与光照水电站 Qinglong, Guizhou, China. The Beipanjiang River is a barrier that seems to require engineers to create world record bridge spans. This tradition began in 2001 when the first record breaking high railway arch crossing took place near Fa’er Bouyei with a rail to river drop of 275 meters. Things have changed a lot in China between 2001 and 2016 and most of the newer railway lines are being designed and built for high speed trains reaching speeds of 250 kilometers an hour. The massive Beipanjiang River railway arch is not only the world's highest railway bridge at 283 meters if you exclude Najiehe which is over a reservoir, but is also the world's longest concrete arch ever built with a span of 445 meters. The crossing is the crown jewel of bridges on the high speed railway line connecting Guiyang and Kunming. Located north of Qinglong city, the Beipanjiang has always been Guizhou's second greatest river after the Wujiang.The bridge is located at kilometer 882 and cost 430 million Yuan or 66 million dollars. The Beipanjiang Railway Bridge is a sister bridge to the slightly smaller Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge near Qiubei, Yunnan as they were both designed by the same engineering teams with similar designs and construction methods. The major difference between the two spans is the Beipanjiang Bridge arch rib has a depth of 9 meters while the Nanpanjiang arch rib has a depth of 8.5 meters.
