Mechanical behavior of an innovative steel–concrete joint for long-span railway hybrid box girder cable-stayed bridges

•An innovative steel–concrete joint is proposed for railway hybrid girder cable-stayed bridges.•The proposed design utilizes double bearing plates and concrete filled steel cells.•The proposed design is investigated through large-scale model test and finite element analysis.•The stress distributions and load transfer pathway are investigated to promote the design.•The proposed design delivers desired force transfer performance with a high uniformity.