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01:27

Chinese engineers delivered a real aerial ballet with the rotation of a mega bridge over an operational maglev line in Shanghai.

A maneuver like this leaves very little room for error: The bridge is built in two massive sections, each beam 132.5 meters long. Together, the cement beams weigh nearly 10,000 tonnes. The trickiest part – a super high-speed maglev train line exceeding 400 kilometers per hour passes directly underneath and must remain fully operational.

The two sections had to swivel into place and lock together with millimeter-level precision – any mistake would have forced engineers to start over. The margin for error was slim to non-existent, especially when the headroom under the bridge is barely 3 meters in some sections.

Yet, the engineers succeeded! The entire 60-degree rotation was completed smoothly in just one hour. This is a first in Chinese bridge construction and marks a key milestone for the Shanghai–Suzhou–Nantong railway network, which will enhance connectivity between Shanghai's Pudong area and Jiangsu Province.

(Cover image by CGTN's Zhu Shangfan)

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