The Most Amazing "Move"! 30,000 Ton Train Station Makes a 90-Degree Turnaround. Netizens: The Infrastructure Construction Experts Have Not Deceived Me.

On July 10th, the CCTV documentary "Great Nation Construction" (its sixth episode titled "Innovative Ingenuity") featured this story. 

During the construction of the Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed railway, it happened to be blocked by the Xiamen Houxixi Long-distance Bus Station (hereinafter referred to as the "bus station"). 

After a brainstorming session, the construction team decided to "relocate" the station - moving it to an open area in the northwest direction. 

The technique of horizontal movement is not new. In the past, we have seen some buildings undergo horizontal movement due to planning requirements. Generally speaking, horizontal movement involves cutting the building from its original foundation and moving it using traction equipment to a new fixed foundation. The process begins with the horizontal movement. However, this "traditional" horizontal movement method is not feasible for a passenger station. 

The main building of Houxixi Passenger Station is 162 meters long and 33.6 meters wide, with a total weight of 30,000 tons. It is a large, elongated structure. If it is moved horizontally from one floor, it is prone to tilt due to unstable forces.

The engineer then excavated a large foundation pit within the horizontal movement range and laid 26 curved concrete tracks... Thus, the preparatory work was just completed. 

During the mobile stage, the engineers ingeniously drew on the top-pressing principle used in road and bridge construction. They created a hydraulic device and arranged them in groups of four, with each pair alternating in ascending and descending movements for top-pressing. It was like installing walking feet on a passenger station. To monitor the "walking" information in real time, the engineers also installed 500 walking mechanisms and 600 sensors on the "soles" of the top-pressing devices...
It is reported that a representative from China Construction First Group Corporation Limited stated that this relocation project mainly involved a number of highly challenging technologies, including: cutting and separating the two underground floors of the building, how to maintain the posture of the relocated object during the curved displacement; how the relocation equipment can ensure synchronous coordination on the curve; how to monitor the structure of the relocated object in real time to ensure the safety of the relocation; and how to promptly correct deviations during the relocation process. 

Facing multiple difficulties and challenges, after 38 days, the main station building of the 30,000-ton long-distance passenger station was successfully moved: on average, it moved about 7.5 meters per day, from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock, covering a total distance of 288 meters. 

After the movement was completed, the engineers connected and reinforced the cut-off columns and the reserved foundation at the new site with steel bars and concrete to ensure safe use in the future. 

The relocation project began in May 2018 and was successfully completed on April 1, 2019. At that time, this relocation project was certified by the Guinness World Records as the "longest arc of building relocation distance" with a displacement of 288.24 meters. This was also the world's first long-distance and large-radius building relocation. 

Netizen: It seems that the record of the "Infrastructure Construction Wizard" can only be broken by ourselves!