Pressurized cars, individual oxygen masks for each passenger, specially designed locomotives, endless overpasses on permafrost, dozens of deserted stations against the backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks - all this is a unique Qinghai-Tibetan Railway. In just five years and three and a half billion dollars, China built a 1,150-kilometer highway connecting the "Roof of the World" with the main territory of the country.

Back in the early 1920s, the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, in his programmatic “Plan for the Reconstruction of China,” proposed building about 100,000 kilometers of new railways in the country, including lines on the Tibetan Plateau. For objective reasons, the idea of ​​the “father of the nation” could only be returned to in the 1950s under Chairman Mao. The railway project to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, was approved by 1960, but its construction was frozen for almost a decade and a half - China hardly reaped the benefits of the Great Leap Forward.

Only in 1974, the construction of the first section of the future highway, from the capital of Qinghai Province, the city of Xining to Golmud, already on the Tibetan Plateau, was resumed. 814 kilometers of the railway were built by the army and prisoners in five years, by 1979, but passenger traffic was opened here only in 1984.

Work on the second, high-altitude section to Lhasa was associated with engineering challenges of particular complexity: the builders had to work in conditions of permafrost, lack of oxygen, and, moreover, the unique Tibetan ecosystem, the preservation of which was declared a matter of paramount importance by the Chinese party and government.

It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the country reached a level of technological readiness that made it possible to start implementing a large-scale infrastructure project. Moreover, the construction of the railway to Lhasa has become a key stage in the development program of Western China, the purpose of which is to eliminate the disproportion in the development of the eastern and western regions of the country. Another important, and perhaps the main, task of the PRC government was to strengthen the ties of the Tibetan autonomy, control over which was re-established only in 1950, with the main Chinese territory.

According to the project, approved in 2000 by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the total length of the new railway was to be 1,142 kilometers. 45 stations were organized on this section, 38 of which were automatic, without attendants. The Tibetan highway from Golmud rose from a height of 2800 meters above sea level to the Tang-La pass (5072 meters) and then again descended to Lhasa (3642 meters).

Golmud Station.

Final terminal in Lhasa.

About 80% of the entire new section (960 kilometers) passed through difficult high-mountainous regions at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, of which about 550 kilometers were located in the permafrost zone.

Building a railroad there presented a major engineering challenge. The fact is that the upper layer of permafrost tends to thaw in a short summer period, sometimes turning into an impenetrable swamp. In this regard, soil movements posed a real threat, which could lead to deformation and destruction of the track. In order to eliminate such a risk, the designers of the Qinghai-Tibet road developed a special scheme for its construction, which actually isolates any impact of the highway on the environment and vice versa.

The rails were laid on a special embankment of cobblestones covered with a layer of sand. In a transverse projection, the embankment was perforated with a through network of pipes to ensure its better ventilation, and its slopes were covered with special metal sheets that reflect sunlight and thereby further prevent its heating. In some areas, wells filled with liquid nitrogen were also arranged. All these measures actually froze the embankment under the road, preventing the heating of the upper layer of permafrost, its thawing and subsequent deformation of the railway track.

To compensate for elevation differences in the construction areas, a significant part of the highway was laid along flyovers. In total, 675 bridges were built on its 1142 kilometers, with a total length of 160 kilometers. The supports of these overpasses are essentially piles, the foundations of which rest deep in permafrost, due to which seasonal thawing of its upper layer does not have any effect on the stability of the structure structure. The gaps between the supports-columns do not prevent the free circulation of air under them, which allows minimizing the additional thermal effect from the railway.

In addition to the technical component, an important advantage of the overpass sections is the fact that they do not interfere with the free movement under the highway of sometimes unique representatives of the local fauna. The negative effect of foreign inclusion in the Tibetan ecosystem is thus reduced to a minimum.

Sections of the Qinghai-Tibet road, laid on an embankment on the surface of the earth, are fenced along their entire length, and special tunnels and bridges are regularly built for the passage of migratory animals.

After the completion of construction, the Tibetan Highway set several railway construction records at once. 350 kilometers from Golmud, at an altitude of 4900 meters above sea level, the highest mountain railway tunnel in the world was built, called Fenghuoshan (Wind Volcano Tunnel).

The Tang-La station on the mountain pass of the same name became the highest mountain railway station in the world. The mountains surrounding it seem more like hills, but this is a deceptive impression. In fact, the three-track Tang La is located at an altitude of 5068 meters, only four meters below the highest point of the entire highway (5072 meters).

Although trains stop here, in fact it is just a siding on a single-track highway. The station is fully automatic and is controlled from Xining, where the central office of the whole road is located. None settlements not nearby, which, however, did not prevent the Chinese from building a fairly large station here, worthy of a record-breaking station.

In most cases, the doors of the carriages do not even open here. For an unprepared person to be at such a height where the pressure of the atmosphere is only about 35-40% of the standard at sea level, poses a certain threat to health.

In order to make traveling through the highlands with their stunning landscapes a pleasure for passengers, a special rolling stock has been developed for the Qinghai-Tibet road. The American corporation General Electric designed NJ2 diesel locomotives for the line, modified for operation in high-altitude conditions, with a capacity of 5100 hp. With. each. Locomotives are capable of speeds up to 120 km/h with a train of 15 cars. In permafrost zones, their speed is limited to 100 km/h.

The wagons for the maintenance of the road were built at the Chinese plant of the Canadian concern Bombardier in the amount of 361 pieces (308 ordinary and 53 special tourist cars). All of them are actually hermetically sealed from environment, an oxygen pressure close to standard is maintained inside.

Despite this, attacks of altitude sickness caused by a lack of oxygen occurred among passengers. To prevent them, each seat in the carriages is equipped with individual oxygen tubes, similar to hospital ones. Tinted windows of cars with a special coating protect passengers from excessive solar radiation, again characteristic of the highlands.

Standard cars are divided into three classes familiar to us: seated, reserved seat and compartment. In addition, there are dining cars on the trains.

The throughput capacity of the line is eight pairs of passenger trains per day (excluding freight trains). At present, Lhasa is connected by regular passenger traffic not only with the neighboring “regional” center of Xining, but also with major cities countries are Beijing and Shanghai. The Beijing-Lhasa Express is on the way for 44 hours. The cost of tickets, depending on the class, ranges from $125 (reserved seat) to $200 (compartment).

Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began in 2001. About 20,000 workers who simultaneously began laying the highway from both endpoints (Golmud and Lhasa) completed the party's demanding task in just five years, spending $3.68 billion. According to official figures, no one died, even despite long-term work in not the most comfortable conditions for this.

Over the seven years of operation, more than 63 million passengers and 300 million tons of cargo have been transported along the road. Annual passenger traffic increased from 6.5 million people in 2006, when the line was commissioned, to 11 million people in 2012, and annual freight traffic increased from 25 million tons in 2006 to 56 million tons in 2012. It is already obvious that the new railway has significantly intensified economic development Tibet and the neighboring province of Qinghai.

The cost of delivering goods to Tibet, including energy carriers that are especially valuable in mountainous conditions, has become significantly cheaper. The tourism industry has also received a new impetus to development, although it is still impossible for anyone who wants to leave just like that, for example, to take the Beijing train to Lhasa. To visit Tibet, the Chinese government, as before, requires a special permit, without which you simply will not be put on the train.

Skeptics, on the other hand, consider the Qinghai-Tibet railway to be only the next stage in the gradual Chinese colonization of a kind of autonomous region and the locomotive of its development. natural resources. Geologists have already discovered deposits of copper, lead and zinc in the highlands of Tibet, raw materials badly needed by China's booming industry. Ecologists, of course, fear that the presence of a modern railway in the region will only spur the Chinese government to the speedy development of these deposits, with unpredictable consequences for the fragile ecosystem of the region.

However, so far these are just unsubstantiated fears. On the other hand, it is hard to deny the popularity of the road among the inhabitants of Tibet, who got the opportunity to easily and quickly reach the highly developed eastern regions of the country, and especially among tourists, for whom the highway is a wonderful attraction, created with typical Chinese tenacity, literally turning mountains.

Not for the first time, the Chinese surprise the whole world with their bold technical solutions. Railway in
the highlands of China is fully such a project.
Pressurized cars, individual oxygen masks for each passenger, specially designed locomotives, endless overpasses on permafrost, dozens of deserted stations against the backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks - all this is the unique Qinghai-Tibet railway.

In just five years and three and a half billion dollars, China built a 1,150-kilometer highway connecting the "Roof of the World" with the main territory of the country.

Back in the early 1920s, the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, in his programmatic “Plan for the Reconstruction of China,” proposed building about 100,000 kilometers of new railways in the country, including lines on the Tibetan Plateau. For objective reasons, the idea of ​​the “father of the nation” could only be returned to in the 1950s under Chairman Mao. The railway project to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was approved by 1960, but its construction was frozen for almost a decade and a half - China hardly reaped the benefits of the Great Leap Forward.

Only in 1974, the construction of the first section of the future highway, from the capital of Qinghai Province, the city of Xining to Golmud, already on the Tibetan Plateau, was resumed. 814 kilometers of the railway were built by the army and prisoners in five years, by 1979, but passenger traffic was opened here only in 1984.

Work on the second, high-altitude section to Lhasa was associated with engineering challenges of particular complexity: the builders had to work in conditions of permafrost, lack of oxygen, and, moreover, the unique Tibetan ecosystem, the preservation of which was declared a matter of paramount importance by the Chinese party and government.

It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the country reached a level of technological readiness that made it possible to start implementing a large-scale infrastructure project. Moreover, the construction of the railway to Lhasa has become a key stage in the development program of Western China, the purpose of which is to eliminate the disproportion in the development of the eastern and western regions of the country. Another important, and perhaps the main, task of the PRC government was to strengthen the ties of the Tibetan autonomy, control over which was re-established only in 1950, with the main Chinese territory.

According to the project, approved in 2000 by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the total length of the new railway was to be 1,142 kilometers. 45 stations were organized on this section, 38 of which were automatic, without attendants. The Tibetan highway from Golmud rose from a height of 2800 meters above sea level to the Tang-La pass (5072 meters) and then again descended to Lhasa (3642 meters).

Golmud Station.

Final terminal in Lhasa.

About 80% of the entire new section (960 kilometers) passed through difficult high-mountainous regions at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, of which about 550 kilometers were located in the permafrost zone.

Building a railroad there presented a major engineering challenge. The fact is that the upper layer of permafrost tends to thaw in a short summer period, sometimes turning into an impenetrable swamp. In this regard, soil movements posed a real threat, which could lead to deformation and destruction of the track. In order to eliminate such a risk, the designers of the Qinghai-Tibet road developed a special scheme for its construction, which actually isolates any impact of the highway on the environment and vice versa.

The rails were laid on a special embankment of cobblestones covered with a layer of sand. In a transverse projection, the embankment was perforated with a through network of pipes to ensure its better ventilation, and its slopes were covered with special metal sheets that reflect sunlight and thereby further prevent its heating. In some areas, wells filled with liquid nitrogen were also arranged. All these measures actually froze the embankment under the road, preventing the heating of the upper layer of permafrost, its thawing and subsequent deformation of the railway track.

To compensate for elevation differences in the construction areas, a significant part of the highway was laid along flyovers. In total, 675 bridges were built on its 1142 kilometers, with a total length of 160 kilometers. The supports of these overpasses are essentially piles, the foundations of which rest deep in permafrost, due to which seasonal thawing of its upper layer does not have any effect on the stability of the structure structure. The gaps between the supports-columns do not prevent the free circulation of air under them, which allows minimizing the additional thermal effect from the railway.

In addition to the technical component, an important advantage of the overpass sections is the fact that they do not interfere with the free movement under the highway of sometimes unique representatives of the local fauna. The negative effect of foreign inclusion in the Tibetan ecosystem is thus reduced to a minimum.

Sections of the Qinghai-Tibet road, laid on an embankment on the surface of the earth, are fenced along their entire length, and special tunnels and bridges are regularly built for the passage of migratory animals.

After the completion of construction, the Tibetan Highway set several railway construction records at once. 350 kilometers from Golmud, at an altitude of 4900 meters above sea level, the highest mountain railway tunnel in the world was built, called Fenghuoshan (Wind Volcano Tunnel).

The Tang-La station on the mountain pass of the same name became the highest mountain railway station in the world. The mountains surrounding it seem more like hills, but this is a deceptive impression. In fact, the three-track Tang La is located at an altitude of 5068 meters, only four meters below the highest point of the entire highway (5072 meters).

Although trains stop here, in fact it is just a siding on a single-track highway. The station is fully automatic and is controlled from Xining, where the central office of the whole road is located. There are no settlements nearby, which, however, did not prevent the Chinese from building a rather large station here, worthy of a record-breaking station.

In most cases, the doors of the carriages do not even open here. For an unprepared person to be at such a height where the pressure of the atmosphere is only about 35-40% of the standard at sea level, poses a certain threat to health.

In order to make traveling through the highlands with their stunning landscapes a pleasure for passengers, a special rolling stock has been developed for the Qinghai-Tibet road. The American corporation General Electric designed NJ2 diesel locomotives for the line, modified for operation in high-altitude conditions, with a capacity of 5100 hp. With. each. Locomotives are capable of speeds up to 120 km/h with a train of 15 cars. In permafrost zones, their speed is limited to 100 km/h.

The wagons for the maintenance of the road were built at the Chinese plant of the Canadian concern Bombardier in the amount of 361 pieces (308 ordinary and 53 special tourist cars). All of them are actually hermetically isolated from the environment, the oxygen pressure is maintained inside, close to the standard.

Despite this, attacks of altitude sickness caused by a lack of oxygen occurred among passengers. To prevent them, each seat in the carriages is equipped with individual oxygen tubes, similar to hospital ones. Tinted windows of cars with a special coating protect passengers from excessive solar radiation, again characteristic of the highlands.

Standard cars are divided into three classes familiar to us: seated, reserved seat and compartment. In addition, there are dining cars on the trains.

Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began in 2001. About 20,000 workers who simultaneously began laying the highway from both endpoints (Golmud and Lhasa) completed the party's demanding task in just five years, spending $3.68 billion. According to official figures, no one died, even despite long-term work in not the most comfortable conditions for this.

The throughput capacity of the line is eight pairs of passenger trains per day (excluding freight trains). Currently, Lhasa is connected by regular passenger traffic not only with the neighboring "regional" center of Xining, but also with the country's largest cities - Beijing and Shanghai. The Beijing - Lhasa express train takes 44 hours. The cost of tickets, depending on the class, ranges from $125 (reserved seat) to $200 (compartment).

Over the seven years of operation, more than 63 million passengers and 300 million tons of cargo have been transported along the road. Annual passenger traffic increased from 6.5 million people in 2006, when the line was commissioned, to 11 million people in 2012, and annual freight traffic increased from 25 million tons in 2006 to 56 million tons in 2012. It is already clear that the new railway has significantly boosted the economic development of Tibet and the neighboring province of Qinghai.

The cost of delivering goods to Tibet, including energy carriers that are especially valuable in mountainous conditions, has become significantly cheaper. The tourism industry has also received a new impetus to development, although it is still impossible for anyone who wants to leave just like that, for example, to take the Beijing train to Lhasa. To visit Tibet, the Chinese government, as before, requires a special permit, without which you simply will not be put on the train.

Skeptics, on the other hand, consider the Qinghai-Tibet railway to be just another stage in the gradual Chinese colonization of a kind of autonomous region and a locomotive for the development of its natural resources. Geologists have already discovered deposits of copper, lead and zinc in the highlands of Tibet, raw materials badly needed by China's booming industry. Ecologists, of course, fear that the presence of a modern railway in the region will only spur the Chinese government to the speedy development of these deposits, with unpredictable consequences for the fragile ecosystem of the region.

However, so far these are just unsubstantiated fears. On the other hand, it is hard to deny the popularity of the road among the inhabitants of Tibet, who got the opportunity to easily and quickly reach the highly developed eastern regions of the country, and especially among tourists, for whom the highway is a wonderful attraction, created with typical Chinese tenacity, literally turning mountains.

Qinghai-Tibet Railway

This is the highest mountain railway in the world. "Road to the roof of the world" - Train to the roof of the world. Connects the administrative center of Tibet - the city of Lhasa through Golmud and Xining with the rest of the country's railway network. Railway map of the People's Republic of China.

The railway to Tibet was planned for a long time. Back in 1958, Mao Tse Tung instructed to consider the possibility of building a railway to the Tibet Autonomous Region, despite the fact that no one had experience in building railways in such, without exaggeration, extreme conditions.

Work on the first stage of construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway began in 1960. By 1962, the documentation was fully developed and approved. The construction was carried out by the prisoners - thus the task was carried out to minimize costs. In 1979, a railway track came to Golmud. The construction of the road further into the mountains, although it was approved, but the health complications of construction prisoners associated with oxygen starvation, as well as the fact that a significant part of the road would be laid in permafrost conditions, forced the construction to be stopped.

In the early years, the Xining - Golmud section was used exclusively by the military, and only in 1984, it opened to passenger traffic. At this, the construction of the railway to the capital of Tibet stopped for more than 10 years ...

In the second half of the 1990s, the country's government instructed to correct the route of the projected line, as well as to conduct new studies in terms of the economic feasibility of its construction. The result of this was the fact that in February 2001, the Chinese state construction approved the continuation of the construction of the highway, declaring its completion one of the state priorities.

On July 29, 2001, from two ends, from Lhasa and from Golmud, detachments of builders moved towards each other. At the same time, the section of the first stage, Xining - Golmud, underwent a major modernization: a major overhaul of some engineering structures was carried out, the signaling was updated, which made it possible to significantly increase the throughput of the section.

On October 15, 2005, the construction of the railway was completed. Despite the fact that this event was very widely covered in the press, including in the world, for Tibet this did not yet mean that there was a direct connection along the rails with the rest of the world: the builders requested a few more months to run in and debug the line. This went on for another 15 months.

And finally, on July 1, 2006, regular passenger traffic was opened on the entire Qinghai-Tibet highway. The whole journey from Beijing to Lhasa takes 48 hours.

From a technical point of view, the construction of the second stage of the road was extremely difficult. 80% of the road passes at an altitude of more than 4000 meters above sea level, of which 160 kilometers at altitudes of 4000 - 4500 meters, 780 kilometers at altitudes of 4500 - 5000 meters and 20 kilometers of the line passes at an altitude of more than 5000 meters.

The highest railway station is Tangula Pass. It is located at an altitude of 5068 meters above sea level. This is the highest railway station in the world. Not far from it, trains pass the highest point of the route - 5072 meters.

There is no town or village near the station. Trains stop here infrequently, while passenger cars always remain closed - passengers are prohibited from entering the platform: after all, at such an altitude, the percentage of oxygen in the air is from 60% to 40% compared to sea level. When the solemn opening ceremony of the highway took place, many journalists needed medical assistance. Medical workers accompany passenger trains today.

Another serious problem that the builders faced was permafrost. In such conditions, 640 kilometers of the line are located. At the same time, it is worth noting that the permafrost in Tibet is special, high-altitude. It has some differences from the permafrost so familiar to us in the northern latitudes. Nevertheless, Russian engineers were invited to solve the problems that arose during construction, because our country has a lot of experience in building railways in similar geological conditions, primarily during the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The experience of our engineers during the laying of tunnels also came in handy. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway has the highest mountain tunnel in the world, at an altitude of 4905 meters, and the longest tunnel is more than 3300 meters at an altitude of 4264 meters, 80 kilometers from the final destination - Lhasa.

Often in these places there are storms. In some cases, wind speeds can reach 150 kilometers per hour. Half of the highway is located in a seismically dangerous zone: earthquakes are observed here, with a force of 8 or more points.

Technical characteristics of the line: the length is 1142 kilometers, 965 kilometers at an altitude of more than 4000 meters, the maximum slopes are 20 thousandths, the minimum radii of curves are 600 meters, vertical - 800 meters. The estimated speed is 100 kilometers per hour. 7 tunnels and 675 bridges, with a total length of almost 160 kilometers. The line is single-track with sidings, not electrified. But at the same time, groundwork has been made for the possible electrification of the line in the future, as well as for an increase in speeds.

Ecology was a separate line of the project implementation. A significant part of the bridges located on the line is made for the unimpeded passage of animals under them. Noise reduction technologies are also used.

Passenger cars were specially designed by Bombardier for the Chinese Railways. The cars are fully hermetic, designed for speeds up to 120 km/h. There are three classes in the carriages: seated, reserved seat and deluxe. The inscriptions are everywhere duplicated in Tibetan, Chinese and English. Under each passenger seat there is a connector for connecting an oxygen tube and an oxygen control panel. In the event of a sudden depressurization, individual oxygen masks are automatically folded back. Diesel locomotives for the line were produced in Pennsylvania at the plants of the General Electric concern.

Restaurant car.

Shared wagon.

Xining station train station.

Train station of Golmud station.

The end point of the highway is Lhasa station.

The platform of the Lhasa station station.

The platform of the Lhasa station station.

Qinghai-Tibet railway (The Qinghai–Tibet railway) the highest mountain railway in the world, connecting the city of Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, and through it the entire Mainland China, with the administrative center of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) - the city.

1. Actually, the train itself. (Photo taken in January 2008):

The first half of the first day on the road, in general, is nothing interesting: the endless steppes of Inner Mongolia, the wide Chinese rivers, the web of the Chinese railway.

2. The second day of the journey. Tunnel:

3. This is how the city of Xining looks like from the train:

4. This lake in Russian and Mongolian is called Kukunor, in Tibetan - Tso Ngonpo, in Chinese - Qinghai:

5. A small Buddhist monastery in Eastern Tibet (Amdo region):

The builders of the road had to face many technical difficulties. First of all, these are areas of permafrost (permafrost). Approximately half of the Golmud-Lhasa section is built on permafrost. In summer, the top layer of soil thaws, and the earth turns into liquid mud. To solve this problem, some areas had to be covered with a large amount of stones and rubble, the most vulnerable areas had to be raised to bridges.

6. Engineering structures along the road:

7. Here it is, the highest section of the railway in the world, Tanggula Pass, height - 5072 m.:

8. Martian landscapes of the Tibetan plateau:

9. Tibetan mountain village. There are many of these along the way:

The construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section was completed in October 2005, and the first train was launched in July 2006. Construction of the road continues: in 2013, the opening of the Lhasa-Shigatse section was announced, the project is estimated at 13.3 billion yuan (approx. 2.2 billion dollars). Plans are being discussed for the construction of sections Lhasa - Nyingchi (a district in Western Tibet), Lhasa - Kathmandu, and even Lhasa - Calcutta.

10. Building bridges and good roads in Tibet is not an easy task:

11. This is how our train looks from the side:

12. Hang Tso Lake:

13. Mountain range Samdan Kangsam (Samdan Kangsam), the highest point of the range - 6590 m.:

14. In some places, Tibetan landscapes resemble the Arctic:

15. Some more Martian landscapes:

16. Tibetan Plateau:

17. Passengers:

18. Railway Station in Lhasa:

19. The air in Tibet is rarefied, partial pressure oxygen is 35% - 40% lower than at sea level, so all cars are equipped with oxygen masks. "Life support system" in a railway car:

The trains are specially designed for the highlands: locomotives by the American company GE, passenger cars by the Chinese corporation Bombardier Sifang Transportation (BSP).

This is the highest mountain railway in the world. "Road to the roof of the world" - Train to the roof of the world. Connects the administrative center of Tibet - the city of Lhasa through Golmud and Xining with the rest of the country's railway network.

The railway to Tibet was planned for a long time. Back in 1958, Mao Tse Tung instructed to consider the possibility of building a railway to the Tibet Autonomous Region, despite the fact that no one had experience in building railways in such, without exaggeration, extreme conditions.


Work on the first stage of construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway began in 1960. By 1962, the documentation was fully developed and approved. The construction was carried out by the prisoners - thus the task was carried out to minimize costs. In 1979, a railway track came to Golmud. The construction of the road further into the mountains, although it was approved, but the health complications of construction prisoners associated with oxygen starvation, as well as the fact that a significant part of the road would be laid in permafrost conditions, forced the construction to be stopped.

In the early years, the Xining - Golmud section was used exclusively by the military, and only in 1984, it opened to passenger traffic. At this, the construction of the railway to the capital of Tibet stopped for more than 10 years ...

In the second half of the 1990s, the country's government instructed to correct the route of the projected line, as well as to conduct new studies in terms of the economic feasibility of its construction. The result of this was the fact that in February 2001, the Chinese state construction approved the continuation of the construction of the highway, declaring its completion one of the state priorities.

On July 29, 2001, from two ends, from Lhasa and from Golmud, detachments of builders moved towards each other. At the same time, the section of the first stage, Xining - Golmud, underwent a major modernization: a major overhaul of some engineering structures was carried out, the signaling was updated, which made it possible to significantly increase the throughput of the section.


On October 15, 2005, the construction of the railway was completed. Despite the fact that this event was very widely covered in the press, including in the world, for Tibet this did not yet mean that there was a direct connection along the rails with the rest of the world: the builders requested a few more months to run in and debug the line. This went on for another 15 months.

And finally, on July 1, 2006, regular passenger traffic was opened on the entire Qinghai-Tibet highway. The whole journey from Beijing to Lhasa takes 48 hours.




From a technical point of view, the construction of the second stage of the road was extremely difficult. 80% of the road passes at an altitude of more than 4000 meters above sea level, of which 160 kilometers at altitudes of 4000 - 4500 meters, 780 kilometers at altitudes of 4500 - 5000 meters and 20 kilometers of the line passes at an altitude of more than 5000 meters.

The highest railway station is Tangula Pass. It is located at an altitude of 5068 meters above sea level. This is the highest railway station in the world. Not far from it, trains pass the highest point of the route - 5072 meters.




There is no town or village near the station. Trains stop here infrequently, while passenger cars always remain closed - passengers are prohibited from entering the platform: after all, at such an altitude, the percentage of oxygen in the air is from 60% to 40% compared to sea level. When the solemn opening ceremony of the highway took place, many journalists needed medical assistance. Medical workers accompany passenger trains today.


Another serious problem that the builders faced was permafrost. In such conditions, 640 kilometers of the line are located. At the same time, it is worth noting that the permafrost in Tibet is special, high-altitude. It has some differences from the permafrost so familiar to us in the northern latitudes. Nevertheless, Russian engineers were invited to solve the problems that arose during construction, because our country has a lot of experience in building railways in similar geological conditions, primarily during the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The experience of our engineers during the laying of tunnels also came in handy. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway has the highest mountain tunnel in the world, at an altitude of 4905 meters, and the longest tunnel is more than 3300 meters at an altitude of 4264 meters, 80 kilometers from the final destination - Lhasa.


Often in these places there are storms. In some cases, wind speeds can reach 150 kilometers per hour. Half of the highway is located in a seismically dangerous zone: earthquakes are observed here, with a force of 8 or more points.

Technical characteristics of the line: the length is 1142 kilometers, 965 kilometers at an altitude of more than 4000 meters, the maximum slopes are 20 thousandths, the minimum radii of curves are 600 meters, vertical - 800 meters. The estimated speed is 100 kilometers per hour. 7 tunnels and 675 bridges, with a total length of almost 160 kilometers. The line is single-track with sidings, not electrified. But at the same time, groundwork has been made for the possible electrification of the line in the future, as well as for an increase in speeds.


Ecology was a separate line of the project implementation. A significant part of the bridges located on the line is made for the unimpeded passage of animals under them. Noise reduction technologies are also used.


Passenger cars were specially designed by Bombardier for the Chinese Railways. The cars are fully hermetic, designed for speeds up to 120 km/h. There are three classes in the carriages: seated, reserved seat and deluxe. The inscriptions are duplicated everywhere in Tibetan, Chinese and English. Under each passenger seat there is a connector for connecting an oxygen tube and an oxygen control panel. In the event of a sudden depressurization, individual oxygen masks are automatically folded back. Diesel locomotives for the line were produced in Pennsylvania at the plants of the General Electric concern.








Restaurant car.