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

• We present a brief historical review of the long-span railway bridge.
• We emphasize the significance of deflection control in the design of HSR long-span bridges.
• We show three main design options of medium-span HSR bridge in China.
• We introduce two main design options of long-span HSR bridge in China.
• We discuss the feasibility of longer HSR bridges through summarizing key technical features.

Medium- and long-span bridges of the high-speed rail (HSR) projects play a significant role when crossing certain obstacles, such as rivers, existing highways, etc. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review on the design practice of these special spans in the HSR projects of China. Given standard spans are usually smaller than 100 m, special spans can be divided into two categories by the length of main span: medium length (100–200 m) and large length (200–500 m). For medium length, three structural forms are discussed as feasible design options, including steel arch, rigid frame and hybrid arch-girder. In addition, recently completed long-span bridges are reviewed to feature several innovative structural forms on the HSR of China, including steel truss arches and cable-stayed bridges with truss girder. Finally, the key technical features of long-span HSR bridges are summarized, and a discussion of the feasibility of longer spans is also included.