Until
recently there hadn’t been railways in Tibet. Now there are two railways: the
older Qinghai-Lhasa and the newer Lhasa- Shigatse or Lhasa–Xigazê railway. A
third is under construction.
“The
railway network will accelerate the mass movement of Chinese migrants into
Tibet which will threaten the unique cultural identity of the Tibetan people
through forced assimilation,” comes the criticism by exile Tibetans. There are
also military aspects to be taken into account, but there are also advantages
by new networks.
The Lhasa-Shigatse railway (拉日铁路) faces lots of technical problems
as the Yarlung tsampo is a fierce river and the valley at times is very narrow,
so that roads are often washed away. The railway is safer in this aspect as it
is higher above the river, which means having to build lots of bridges and
tunnels. It has a length of 253 km.
There’s another railway in planning and
execution: the Yunnan-Tibet railway (滇藏铁路). This line
will connect Kunming (昆明) and Lhasa (拉萨) with a length
of 1573.3 km. The stretch between Kunming (昆明) and Dali (大理) is already open. In between Dali (大理) and
Lijiang (丽江) there is already work being done,
which should open the line to Shangri-la (香格里拉) in 2020.
The Chinese Wikipedia article mentions the
political, economic, and military significance of this project. The Central
Government makes it clear that there is no room for an independent Tibet (and
there’s also no room for an independent Xinjiang!). I think that the plans
include more tourism going beyond Shangri-la. As Shangri-la is already at an
altitude of above 3000 m, people can get acclimatized there and cross the
4500-5000 m high passes on their way to Lhasa.
And then there is the Qinghai–Tibet railway (青藏铁路), which has a length of 1,956 km; the section between Xining (西宁) and Golmud (格尔木) was
completed by 1984. Even Mao Zedong was involved, as he told the Nepalese King,
that he couldn’d sleep as long as the railway isn’t repaired/built (青藏鐵路修不通，我睡不著覺。). The plan is to connect Kathmandu with China.
Maybe this plan can only go as far as Zhangmu (樟木) not because of political problems but because of the frequent
landslides on the Nepalese side. In 2006 the section between Golmud (格尔木) and Lhasa (拉萨) was opened; it has a length of
1,142 km. I took the trip in 2009 (from Lhasa to Guangzhou) and I enjoyed the
first 2000 km and the last 500 km because of the wonderful landscapes. There
are several passes and Tanggula Pass is the highest at an altitude of 5,072 m above
sea level, which makes it the world's highest point on a railway. The line has
lots of tunnels, at lot is above 4,000 m and it crosses 675 bridges.
Links:
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