Beipan River
The rail network across China's diverse topography makes extensive use of bridges and tunnels. In recent years, advances in bridge-building and tunneling techniques have enabled Chinese railroad builders to reduce overall track length and increase train speeds on rail lines through rugged terrain. The Yichang–Wanzhou Railway, built from 2003 to 2010 across the karst landscape between Wuhan and Chongqing, has 159 tunnels and 253 bridges, which account for 74% of the railway's total length. High-speed rail lines are often built on elevated tracks to reduce the need to acquire land and involve very long bridges. The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway has three of the longest railroad bridges in the world with lengths of , and . The Beipan River Shuibai Railway Bridge built in 2003 in Guizhou Province is the world's highest railway bridge. Its bridge deck is above the Beipan River in a deep gorge.