The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Along with the 32-meter-long T-shaped beam which was put slowly on the pier of the No.1 grand bridge of Lhasa-Shigatse railway over the Yarlung Zangbo River by the bridge layer, the track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013, according to Xinhua.

The No.1 grand bridge of Lhasa-Shigatse railway over the Yarlung Zangbo River is situated in the southwest of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and northern Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon. With a total length of 874.25 meters, the grand bridge strides across the Yarlung Zangbo River, marking an iconic difficult project of the railway.

Deng Jinyao, deputy chief engineer of the Construction Headquarters office of Lhasa-Shigatse railway said: "Since the construction of grand bridge in May of 2011, thousands of builders have overcome difficulties, such as high altitude anoxia and complex geological conditions, and achieved the established goals after more than 20 months."

Deng said that the construction time of the No.1 grand bridge has went through windy weather from October to May of the following year because the bridge is located in a large wind gap. Moreover, the construction encountered the worst flood in 50 years. In order to solve the problems, the Construction Headquarters office has optimized the construction scheme for several times and conquered many technical difficulties, guaranteeing the smooth construction of grand bridge.

The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the extension line of Qinghai-Tibet railway, the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has started construction in 2010, connecting Lhasa and Shigatse, which is the second largest city of Tibet. The railway is 253km long and passes through the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon which is nearly 90km long.

The Lhasa-Shigatse railway is a national class I railway with 13 stations. The railway is expected to put into operation in October of 2014, when the train will travel more than 120km an hour and the annual volume of freight traffic will achieve 8.3 million tons. Recently, the railway has finished 103km track-laying, accounting for 39 percent of the total engineering work.

After the completion of Lhasa-Shigatse railway, it will further expand the influence region of Qinghai-Tibet railway, improve the transportation of southwest Tibet centered on Shigatse Prefecture, ameliorate the single transportation structure of relying on highway and promote the local economic development.

The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

The track-laying of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has spanned the Yarlung Zangbo River for the first time at 16:40 on Sep.24, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]