World's first "soundproof tunnel" along Beijing-Xiong'an Railway completed

The world's first "soundproof tunnel" for high speed trains up to 350km/h along a section of the intercity railway linking Beijing with Xiong'an New Area , north China's Hebei province, was completed on June 21.

The sound barrier project has a total length of 847.25 meters. The main structure adopts a circular steel frame with a span of 12.08 meters and a height of 9.4 meters, including a metal sound insulation board unit with a total area of about 2.2 square meters used on the periphery, which will minimize the noise generated by high-speed rail passing the bridge.

According to Zhang Tengfei, project chief engineer of the Shanghai Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. of the CREC, as the "first example in the world," there are several advanced technologies, such as the integral welding technology of arch structure, adopted for the first time in the country.

Li Baoge, Party branch secretary of the project, said that despite the epidemic, the overall construction period of the project was nearly half a month ahead of schedule and the project is expected to be fully completed in early July.

After the Beijing-Xiong'an intercity railway begins operation, Xiong'an New Area can directly reach Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and other major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with only a 30-minute drive from Xiong'an to Beijing and Tianjin, and a 60-minute drive to Shijiazhuang.

On Feb. 28, 2018, China announced plans to officially start construction on the Beijing-Xiong'an Intercity Railway, with 33.5 billion yuan (about 4.7 billion U.S. dollars) invested in the project, as a measure to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.