The main tower of the Anhai Bay Grand Bridge was capped on Oct 22 -- one of the main projects for the Fuzhou-Xiamen railway -- in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province.

The new bridge represents the first time a ballast-less track has been laid on a cable-stayed bridge crossing the sea for the country's high-speed rail system, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

The main tower of the Anhai Bay Grand Bridge in Quanzhou is capped on Oct 22. [Photo/qzwb.com]

After it is completed and opens to traffic, it will only take 6.7 seconds for the high-speed rail to cross the main bridge.

Connecting Jinjiang and Nan'an county-level cities in Quanzhou, the bridge spans 9.46 km, with the cross-sea section spanning 1.56 km.

After the main tower of the bridge is topped, installation of the cable stays will begin. Construction of the main bridge tower is expected to be finished in July 2021 and the entire bridge will be completed around March 2022.

The Fujian-Xiamen railway is the country's first high-speed railway line set in a truly marine service environment, with a total length of 278 km.

It is scheduled for completion in 2022, cutting the trip from the cities of Fuzhou to Xiamen in Fujian province to less than one hour. It will also serve as an important extension of the Beijing-Fuzhou High-speed Railway, providing high-speed access for six cities in Fujian province to Beijing.