Direct Beijing-Lhasa train

It will take travelers only 48 hours by direct train trip from Beijing to Lhasa, capital of west China's Tibet Autonomous Region as of July 1 next year, a railway official said.
Travelers can enjoy the world-class tourist sites along the newly-built line during the 48-hour direct railway trip, including the Qinghai Lake," said Zhang Shuguang, director of the Transportation Bureau with China's Ministry of Railways.
The new railway line will be operational at the Beijing's West Railway Station from July 1, 2006, the official said, adding that key parts of the line, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, had been completed on Oct. 12 this year.
Qinghai-Tibet section of the railway is the world's highest railway, the official said, adding that some 960 kilometers of the tracks were laid at 4,000 meters above sea level, with the highest parts reaching 5,072 meters.
The railway is still the world's longest plateau railroad which extends 1,956 kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The Golmud-Lhasa section, completed on Oct. 12 this year, zigzags 1,142 kilometers across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges.
"The Beijing-Lhasa train will run at a speed of 160 km per hour on the plain, but will slow down at 120 km per hour when it reaches the Qinghai-Tibet section" Zhang said.
According to the official, the trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are the most advanced ones in China. All the carriages of the trains are installed with oxygen-supplying equipments and every passenger will be provided with an oxygen mask.
"Passengers will not feel altitude reaction or sickness," he said.
In addition to Beijing, some other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, will also launch direct railway passenger transportation to Lhasa as of July 1 next year, Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua

Oxygen supplyed on Tibet-Qinghai trains
Cai Qinghua, former Vice Minister of Railways and now member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, revealed on the 7th that Qinghai-Tibet Railway will officially start running on July 1, 2007. By then it will take no more than three days to travel from Beijing to Lhasa in a domestic gas engine train with strong horsepower.
Cai indicated that with specially designed hermetic closure, trains on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway can guarantee smooth operation in an extremely cold and anoxic environment. They are equipped with a plateau oxygen supply system. Oxygen will be added to the entire cabin and oxygen content in air will remain at the level that is comfortable for human body so as to help passengers overcome altitude stress.
Cai said that trains can run about 120 kilometers per hour on the plateau, which will shorten the riding time between Beijing and Lhasa to less than three days.
Tibet rail section gets major checkup
Chinese rail workers on Wednesday have started a 100-day maintenance check of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in preparation for its test run on July 1.
The railway's operator, the Qinghai-Tibet Railways Company, hopes to ensure trains can run on frozen land at a sustained speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
China announced the completion of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet railway late last year, and plans to launch trial operations in July.
The 1,956-km-long Qing-Tibet railway zigzags across 5,000-meter-high mountain ranges and a 550-km-long frozen belt.
After test runs in July, the new railway will link Lhasa with other major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xining, Chengdu and Guangzhou, according to railways ministry sources.
It will carry 75 percent of all the inbound cargo into Tibet, cutting transport costs and boosting the local economy.

Pictures on Qinghai-Tibet railway

Photos from Xinhua
The 1,142-kilometer-long Qinghai-Tibet railway, which runs across the frozen tundra of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and links Golmud of Qinghai with Lhasa, is the first railway connecting Tibet with other parts of China. It will run through on this July 1.

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