The Qinghai- Tibet Railway is the highest railway in the world. It is a massive project that took years to finish. The total length of the railway is 1956km.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the first to connect Tibet to other provinces in China which has opened seven routes to Lhasa now, including Guangzhou to Lhasa, Shanghai to Lhasa, Beijing to Lhasa, Lanzhou to Lhasa, Xining to Lhasa, Chengdu to Lhasa and Chongqing to Lhasa. The cities of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway include Beijing, Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuchang, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing, Bengbu, Xuzhou, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guangyuan, Baoji, Guang’an, Dazhou, Lanzhou, Xining, Delingha , Golmud, Tuotuohe, Amdo, Nagqu, Dangxiong a total of 26 towns or cities .
The trains are suitable to travel at high elevation circumstances. Most sections of the Qinghai-Tibet railway are also at high altitudes. Therefore, the construction faces three major technical hitches: the geologic structure of permafrost, plateau hypoxia circumstance and fragile ecological environment. The biggest challenge in construction has to do with barely permanent permafrost. The heat of the trains passing above is able to melt the permafrost. Because the air in Tibet is much thinner, the train also uses special carriages. After years of exploration and research, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was finally opened to traffic in July 2006. On 15th August 2014, the Lhasa-Shigatse railway also started running.
Before the construction of the railway, Tibet is backward in economy, culture and social development due to its inadequate transportation facilities. The completion of the railway has completely solved the ‘in and out Tibet’ problem, and formed a three-dimensional traffic model of train, air and car. Tibet travel is no longer a difficult thing for tourists especially for foreigners. (If you are fond of my posts, please follow my website here Bella Chang, I’ll update every day.)
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