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First Time Ever; Fire Outbreak on Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge

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For the first time in its nigh-on, 74-year history, a serious, structural accident has taken place on the iconic Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. A fire, and the subsequent delay of train services which depend on the Bridge for their safe passage over the River.

At 18:01 yesterday, 8 August, the emergency services for China’s fire service that is 119 received the call. A fire had broken out adjacent to steel supports for the railway line by the Bridge’s main southern pier.

Videos posted online by both media and local citizens show that part of the bridge burning and fire engines rushing to the scene, sirens blaring.

The fire caused the immediate disruption of train services across the bridge while first responders got to work. At 19:40, the blaze was extinguished and train services resumed operation.

It is understood that it was a high-tension wire which caught fire. While the cause remains under investigation, questions are being asked whether the prolonged heatwave we are experiencing may be responsible. If so, it raises serious concerns regarding the dependability of infrastructure to such temperature extremes. 

The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is a legend in China. As the first bridge built across the river without foreign assistance, it has become something of a pilgrimage for Chinese people. 

Their pride is also the result the engineering involved. By way of example, the setting of the bridge’s piers on Yangtze River bed involved working at a depth of 80 metres underwater, a then-world record.

Plans for the Bridge were originally proposed by the State Council at the end of the First 5-Year Plan.

In August of 1958, the Bridge’s exact location was agreed upon, as well as that it be a two-deck, dual-purpose rail and road bridge, with 10,000 ton sea-going ships also able to pass underneath.

Construction, which began on 28 June, 1959, was to take over 9 years. The first trains passed over the railway section of the Bridge at 03:00 on National Day, 1 October, 1968, while the Bridge’s upper deck for road traffic was opened on 29 December of the same year.

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