After 17 years of operation, the cableways on the Chongqing Lijatuo Yangtze River Bridge [1] exhibited serious disease, and the two most severely corroded cableways were replaced to ensure the bridge's safe operation; the cableway disease is depicted in Figure 4.  
In summary, the local damage of the pulling sling may lead to the failure of the whole structure [2], resulting in serious economic losses and casualties. Therefore, how to avoid the early decommissioning of tie ropes and accurately assess the operating performance of in-service tie ropes becomes a pressing problem to be solved. This study focuses on the investigation of hanger damage types and causes, as well as an evaluation of the working performance of in-service hangers in tie-arch bridges. The research methodology involves conducting on-site inspections and indoor experiments. Hangers are an important part of tied-arch bridges. The lower end of the short hanger is susceptible to damage under the coupling effect of corrosion, axial stress, and unexpected bending stress. Field tests have shown that short hangers at bridge ends are more susceptible to fatigue damage due to external corrosion under cyclic traffic loading [3]. [PERSON] et al. [4] proposed a reliable fatigue-life assessment method for short hangers. The method evaluated the effects of axle characteristics, environmental corrosion, the lateral position of trains, train weight, traffic flow, and other factors, and the fatigue life of the Dashengguan high-speed railroad bridge's short hanger. According to [PERSON] et al. [5], the presence of wind loads may lead to anomalous vibrations, which, in turn, increases the  
Figure 4: Typical cable diseases of a cable-stayed bridge: (**a**) PE sheath cracking, (**b**) steel wire corrosion, (**c**) anchor cup corrosion. Figure 3: Fracture of the short hanger of the rail bridge: (**a**) LM2 short hanger, (**b**) fractured LM2, (**c**) upper fracture surface, and (**d**) lower fracture surface. likelihood of fatigue damage to the hanger. This risk is particularly heightened when the hanger is directly exposed to the external environment, especially if it has previously experienced corrosion and other forms of deterioration. The anticipated stress amplitude might break hangers due to the corroded wire's lower fatigue strength. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [6] found that when two bridge hangers break asymmetrically, the beam's torsional moment is more noticeable than just one hanger breaks. [PERSON] et al. [7] examined the dynamic effects that arise during the deterioration process of the hanger. They further assessed the dynamic response of the hanger using the equivalent load transient relief technique. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [8] investigated the factors contributing to hanger fracture and the chain reaction damage mechanism in a bifurcated arch-rib-tethered arch bridge. Clearly, damage to linked arch bridge hangers can have severe consequences. However, a literature review reveals that most studies [9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14] focus on the corrosion characteristics of the steel wires within the hanger, whereas fewer studies evaluate the overall safety performance of the hanger. [PERSON] [15] summarized the categories of hanger anchor head maladies and established a hanger anchor head detection index system by analyzing distinct tethered arch bridges. [PERSON] [16] analyzed the deterioration behavior of the anchor head from three aspects: anchor head corrosion, anchor head seepage, and aging damage of protective materials. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [17] examined the causes of hanger damage in terms of material performance, construction procedure, and maintenance conditions. They proposed a repair and reinforcement scheme by conducting a local window inspection on a tethered arch bridge hanger. It is important to note that the architecture of the hanger and its anchoring tecniques exhibit a range of variations, often classified as either flexible hangers or stiff hangers. The focus of this study is the flexible hanger that incorporates an extra protective steel pipe.