The information from Thai correspondents who DID ride the Qinghai - Tibet railways
Than Setthakij - 13-16 August 2006
There are 2 type of soft seats ( 4 beds for 1 bed room and 6 beds for 1 bedroom) and 1 type fo hard seat ...
The soft seat we have riden cost us 500 Yuan/person (250 ringgits)for this logn trip from Goldmund to Lhasa
This rialway has used abotu 3-4 loco with 3-meter wide carriage with 2-meter wide bedroom ...
The stairway to upper bert is smaller than our hand !
There are common restrroom for each sleeper room ... and ther are 19 passengers carriages ... with 2-3 carriage for hard seats ....
The rstroom is has been desiogned so the the waste NEVER go out of the passenger carrage until they stopp at the station to suck the waste out .... just like restroom inside the Jumbo jet
The station platform is quite short ... those who are at the last carriage will have very hard time to walk and climb the strairway to board the train ...
We need to walks slowly ... our we'll get dizzy
Every bed has oxygen channel so they can go up without problem ... The raiklway has guive the rubber oxygen tube and hto water for free byut the passengers have to pay for the food and drinks
You will hear teh voice of a women tellign where the trian is going in Chiense and Tibetian language ...
alogn with soft music. We are not so sure if they have English sperkers to describe the scene ...
When the train climb the altitute, the coffeee bag and noodle bags have become inflated ... we had to take oxyugen for some time ...
The train DID make more than 5 stops for refueling as well as refillign oxygen tanks even thoguh there are 17 stations on the route.... but they NEVER allow the passengers to go out of the train until they reach the highest point at 4500 meter over the sea level ... with 6-minute stops
The train depart Goldmund at 8:30 AM and arrived to
Lhasa at 10:30 PM with total travel time of 13 Hour 30 Minute
Goldmund station is on the oasis with desert aroud the town ... whekl the restt are on Tibet plateau ...
There are LED board shoing the weather report in Chinese, English and Tibet
Ther are 1 restaurant carriage for 19 pasenger cariages ... and ther are ONLY 10 table ... with 4 seats for each table ... Therfore, it is very common to make an order for the fod from restaurant car ..
Food consists of vegetable chcken and fisgh ... quite tsty indeed ...
We coudl spot lots of Yaks when we pass algon Tibet plateau ... btu there are so few villages ... ONLY 3 villiages coudl be spotted ...
Durign the boarding ... we need to play cards, sleep, eat or make a chd to escape bordom and monotony ....
When we reach Lhasa, we need to get our passports Stamped ias if we were goign to another country ...
All of us got very bad headache ... at soem poitn 4 of us need tro get an injection for the medicine to stimulate blood circulation ....
ข่าวการขยายเส้นทางจากนครลาซา ไปเมือง ซีกาเจ๋อ ( Xi Ga Ze ) ซึ่งใกล้ ด่านนาธุลา ชายแดนอินเดีย จากบีบีซี
China to extend Tibetan rail link
The railway, which opened in July, is the world's highest China's government plans to extend its new Tibetan rail link to reach the region's second-biggest city, Xigaze, according to China's state news agency. The existing track opened in July, and connects Tibet's capital Lhasa to Qinghai, and from there to Beijing. It has already caused controversy. The government says it will help the region but critics fear increased control. They also say the railway line threatens both the delicate Himalayan environment and Tibetan culture.
' Great opportunities '
The line to Xigaze will extend the railway by some 270km (170 miles) and should be completed within three years, the state news agency Xinhua reports. "The railway will offer great opportunities for the social and economic development of Xigaze," local official Yu Yungui told Xinhua. The announcement of an extension to the line comes just a month after the completion of the 1,140km (710 mile) line from Golmud, in Qinghai province, to Lhasa.
This line - the world's highest - boasts high-tech engineering to stabilise tracks over permafrost, and sealed cabins to protect passengers from the high altitude. Xigaze lies near the Indian border, and is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, a key spiritual leader. In July, China and India reopened a once-important trade route over the Himalayas at the Nathu La pass.
Officials said the improved infrastructure links would lift trade between the two countries, and develop Tibet's local economy.
High and mighty Jul 6th 2006 From Economist.com
China's new railway through Tibet
HOWEVER questionable the political logic behind Chinas new railway linking the city of Golmud in Qinghai province with Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, the practical achievement is a formidable one. Built at a cost of around $4.2 billion, and opened for passenger service this week, the railway runs for 1,140 km at an average elevation of 4,000 metresthe highest railway in the world, and one of the most difficult to build, requiring long sections of elevated tracks over unstable permafrost, and scores of bridges and tunnels.
As a prestige project for Chinas ruling Communist Party, the railway compares with the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzi, and with the national space programme. It is meant to boost tourism and trade in the region, and to help with mining of Tibets rich deposits of coal, copper, gold and zinc. Those things should make Tibet less reliant on aid from the central government, a mainstay of the local economy ever since the Chinese army asserted central control over Tibet in the 1950s.
All this assumes the line can be kept in good shape. It crosses an active seismic zone, and long sections are built on or above frozen ground saturated with water that can rise or fall by metres as the temperature changes. Experts foresee the need for a big overhaul within as little as ten years. At the very least, maintenance will be difficult and expensive.
China also sees the railway as a first step towards expanding trade links with the South Asian subcontinent. As another part of that effort, it joined with India on Thursday July 6th to re-open the Nathu La pass between southern Tibet and India's north-eastern state of Sikkim, which has stayed closed since China and India went to war in 1962.
This mile-high pass was once part of the Silk Road trade route between China, Central Asia amd Europe. The trade now to be resumed there will be modest at first, in textiles and animal products. But it could grow if local roads and other infrastructure are improved. There is talk, speculative for the moment, of integrating road and rail networks so that Chinese goods can travel via Tibet to bigger markets in Bangladesh and in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Even as the Chinese government touts the railway as a successful development project, international activists and Tibetans-in-exile are critical. If trade and tourism take off, they argue, most of the benefits will accrue to Lhasa's rapidly expanding population of Han Chinese, who control most of the tourist industry as well as most trade between Tibet and the rest of China. Most of the construction companies benefiting from the railway are from eastern China, and the same is likely to be true for mining companies now hoping to use the railway to facilitate their operations in the region. The railway also seems sure to accelerate Han migration to Tibet, which could further stir resentment among the Tibetan population.
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