XINING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Seven years after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway went into operation, the "roof of the world" is about to see more railways connecting it to other parts of China.
Several new railway lines are either under construction or being planned to form a rail network in the sparsely populated Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China, according to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, the operator of the world's highest railway.
During China's 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) period, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will branch out in all directions, ending the history of no railways in the southern part of Tibet Autonomous Region and strengthening its ties with neighboring provinces.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which spans 1,956 km from Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, regional capital of Tibet, carried 10.76 million people and 56.06 million tonnes of cargo in 2012. With these new extension lines in place, the company estimates that its passenger and cargo loads will increase to 14 million and 90 tonnes, respectively, in 2015.
The railway has led to a boom in tourism in Tibet. In 2012, more than 10 million tourists visited the autonomous region, up 21.7 percent year on year, and tourism revenue surged 30.3 percent to 12.64 billion yuan (2.06 billion U.S. dollars).
According to Zhu Jianping, the company's vice general manager, the railway network will bring major cities in western China closer.
One of the first extensions to be completed will be a 253-km line linking Lhasa to Xigaze, a historical city in southwestern Tibet.
Construction of the line began in September 2010, and is expected to finish at the end of this year, Losang Jamcan, chairman of the Tibet regional government, said during China's annual parliamentary session in March.
The company is also considering a line between Lhasa to Nyingchi, a prefecture in the southeastern part of the autonomous region famous for its virgin forests.
Meanwhile, two new lines will extend from Golmud, a city in Qinghai that serves as an important junction on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. One will run toward Dunhuang in northwest China's Gansu Province and the other to Korla, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
With 12.9 billion yuan in investment, construction on the Golmud-Dunhuang line was kicked off last October and is expected to be completed in five years, company spokesperson Wang Tao told Xinhua.
This extension will join existing railways that link Xinjiang with Qinghai and Gansu provinces, forming a circular railway network upon completion.
The proposal for the Golmud-Korla line passed a feasibility test in June. With a length of 1,222.9 km and an investment of 33.5 billion yuan, this extension will, for the first time, provide direct rail transportation between Tibet and Xinjiang, reducing the trip between Lhasa and Urumqi by more than 1,000 km.
In a bid to make the plateau more accessible to southwest China, authorities in Qinghai have also proposed adding two more lines linking economic powerhouse Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to Golmud and Xining.
However, building and operating railways on the world's highest plateau are no easy feats. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway was designed and built with ecological considerations in mind. More than 1.5 billion yuan was spent on environmental conservation along its route, accounting for 5 percent of the project's total spending.
The railway has 33 special passageways for rare animals, including the critically-endangered Tibetan antelope. It also bypassed celestial burial grounds and lamaseries to show respect to local custom and protect religious sites.
Wang Jinchang, a section manager with the engineering affairs department of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, said an additional 195 million yuan has been invested over the past seven years to improve local ecology and protect wildlife.
"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway has provided a lot of experience for us to draw on for the construction and operation of future railway projects," Zhu said.
"The plateau railway network will be energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly and have minimal ecological impact," he added.
yes. Yunnan-Tibet railway is a 1573km railway as spectacular as Tibet railway. But this railway will be constructed by phases.
In below map Lhasa - Nyingchi (Linzhi) Railway and Lijiang-Shangri-La railway will start construction this year. Linzhi - Shangri-La railway is on planning stage. - Nyingchi-Yunnan one will be completed first - Both Lhasa-Chengdu and Lhasa-Kunming railways were planned and both are the most difficult rails to build.
map from baidu
There are plans for railway to Nepal but Xigaze is already near Nepal border -
Track tests have been completed on the railway line, which will boost the economy in an area of Tibet where 700,000 people live
South Chaina Morning Post Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, 4:54pm
Anne Yi
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which runs 1,956km from Xining, Qinghai, to Lhasa, Tibet, will have a 253km spur across a 90km canyon and a wetlands area. Photo: AP
The Qinghai-Tibet Railways spur line from Lhasa to Shigatse may be open to traffic next month, with the completion of track tests on Tuesday, Peoples Daily reported.
The 253km Lhasa-Shigatse spur, which includes 13 stations with altitudes ranging from 3,600 to 4,000 metres, is the largest investment project in the Tibet Autonomous Region in the 12th Five-Year Plan. It is also reportedly the line that spends the longest time crossing the area because of strong geothermal activities that produce the high such temperatures in China.
Lhasa, the southern terminus of the 1,956km main line from Xining, Qinghai, is the eastern terminus of the spur line, which runs along the Lhasa River to the south, almost 90km across the Brahmaputra Canyon area and the Nianchu River wetlands before reaching Shigatse. The trains trains will run on the spur at an average of 120 km/h.
Care was taken to follow the same eco-friendly construction guidelines as with the railways main line, especially on the Tibetand Plateau, the Railway Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region said.
But when builders laid the railway bed, they had to keep the encroachment on the wetlands in the Nianchu River National Wetland Park to a minimum. So, they extended the Nianchu River grand bridge to over 800 metres, and about 50 trees had to be uprooted and then replanted to restore the wetlands original appearance, said Xiao Yanbin, chief engineer of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway project for the Gezhouba Construction Group.
Yang Yulin, deputy director of the Railway Office, said the projects main achievement will be the benefit to the areas residents.
The opening of the railway will completely change the inconvenient situation in the southern part of Tibet, which had been inaccessible by rail and relied only on road transport, he said.
The railway will also be a boost to the local economy in Shigatse district, not only in the investment environment, but also in the mining industry, tourism and the characteristic agriculture. Its a blessing for the 700,000 people in southwest Tibet, said Yang.
Huang Lihua, general manager of Tibetan Travel Corp said that once the spur opens, leaders in Qingdao, Shandong, will take the lead and run a special train to Shigatse for tourism.
BEIJING China plans to extend a railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020 once an extension to a key site in Tibetan Buddhism opens, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.
China opened the railway to Tibet's capital Lhasa in 2006, which passes spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level, as part of government efforts to boost development.
Critics of the railway, including exiled Tibetans and rights groups, say it has spurred an influx of long-term migrants who threaten Tibetans' cultural integrity, which rests on Buddhist beliefs and a traditional herding lifestyle.
The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said that an extention to Shigatse, the traditional seat of Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure, the Panchen Lama, would formally open next month.
2016-2020 extension
That link is scheduled for its own extension during the 2016-2020 period to two separate points, one on the border of Nepal and the other on the border with India and Bhutan, the newspaper cited Yang Yulin, deputy head of Tibet's railways, as saying, without providing details.
China has long mooted this plan, but the difficulty and expense of building in such a rugged and remote region has slowed efforts.
Tibet is a highly sensitive region, not just because of continued Tibetan opposition to Chinese control, but because of its strategic position next to India, Nepal and Myanmar.
The Chinese announcement coincides with a drive by India, under its new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to consolidate its influence with its smaller neighbors.
Visit to Nepal
Modi's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, heads to Nepal on Friday with a proposed pact to help develop the Himalayan country's hydro-electric power potential high on the agenda.
Modi, who made his first foreign trip as prime minister to Bhutan, is to visit Nepal next month. But Nepal's opposition Maoists are uneasy about the hydro-electric plan and say it could lock out China to the benefit of Indian companies.
India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 over the region at the eastern end of the Himalayas. The nuclear-armed neighbors signed a pact in October to ensure that differences on their shared border do not spark a confrontation.
India and China have competing claims over what India calls Arunachal Pradesh, which has been administered by India for decades and what China calls South Tibet.
China's Communist army occupied Tibet in 1950. Nine years later, Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India after a failed uprising.
Lhasa Railway Station (拉萨)
Lhasanan Railway Station (拉萨南)
Baide Railway Station (白德)
Xierong Railway Station (协荣)
Qüxü Railway Station (曲水)
Chabala Railway Station (茶巴拉)
Nyêmo Railway Station (尼木)
Karu Railway Station (卡如)
Rinbung Railway Station (仁布)
Dazhuka Railway Station (大竹卡)
Denggu Railway Station (灯古)
Jiqiong Railway Station (吉琼)
Kadui Railway Station (卡堆)
Xigazê Railway Station (日喀则)
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