30,000-ton bus terminal moved horizontally in Xiamen, China

The Houxi Long Distance Bus Station is situated in the Jimei District of Xiamen, a port city in south-eastern China’s Fujian Province.

With three storeys above the ground and two underneath, the 260 million yuan (£30 million) station opened to the public in 2015 after five years of construction.

But a latest transport plan from the city required the terminal to move to a nearby street to facilitate a high-speed railway project.

After rounds of consultations, the city’s authorities decided to push the entire building from one street to another.

The ambitious move would require the building to make a 90-degree turn horizontally using one side of it as the centre point.

The building measures 162 metres (531 feet) long and 33.6 metres (110 feet) wide. The far side would need to slide along the ground for as far as 288 metres (945 feet) to help the building reach the destination.

Moving such a heavy and large building quickly is an unprecedented challenge.

Prior to the move, workers had dug into the ground and remove the soil between the building’s original location and the new location.

The also put railings along the ground in the fan-shaped area.

Then they lifted the building off the ground and put 532 hydraulic jacks underneath.

Those are special hydraulic jacks that can move forwards automatically after pushing the structure up, bringing the building with them, according to the local Haixi Morning Post.

The hydraulic jacks were divided into two groups, both controlled by computers.

The first group would rise, ‘step’ forwards and go down before the second group repeat the same motions. This would create a visual illusion that the building had been ‘walking’.

The hydraulic jacks worked 24 hours without a stop and the bus terminal was pushed forwards for 10 to 20 metres (32.8 to 65.6 feet) a day.