Construction workers on Saturday completed the joining of the Bayu Bridge, an engineering feat along the first electrified railway in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. 

The bridge over the Yarlung Zangbo River is 283.3 meters long, 19.1 meters wide with a height of 61.5 meters. 

The joining of the bridge in the city of Shannan marks a major breakthrough in the construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, which connects the autonomous region's capital of Lhasa and Nyingchi of southeast Tibet, said China Railway 12th Bureau Group, contractor of the project.

Qiao Zhibin, a project director at China Railway 12th Bureau Group, said they had used advanced technologies and stronger steel to protect the bridge from earthquakes, strong winds and cracking due to large temperature differences. 

The Lhasa-Nyingchi railway features complicated geological conditions. Of the railway's 435-km length, 75 percent are bridges and tunnels. The construction began in 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2021.

(Cover: The construction site of Lhasa-Nyingchi railway in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. /VCG Photo)