Recent development of design and construction of short span high-speed railway bridges in China

• We present a brief historical review of the high speed railway (HSR) development in China.
• We provide general design issues during the design process of HSR short-span bridges.
• We introduce the design philosophies and construction method of HSR simple support beam.
• We introduce the design philosophies and construction method of HSR continuous beam.
• We prove the rapid construction of HSR by using standardized short span.

High-speed rail (HSR) has become a vital component of the national transportation network in China. A large number of standard short-span bridges were constructed as part of the infrastructure associated with the HSR development. The main focus of this short review is to showcase how the fast HSR construction in China during the past decade was achieved by using typical simply supported bridges and continuous beam bridges. This paper provides a brief historical review of the HSR development in China along with emerging design issues. Design concepts and structural dimensions of two typical spans are discussed, including the superstructure, substructure as well as the auxiliary facilities on the bridge deck. Different construction methods were also discussed.