Passenger Trains to Lhasa
Now that railway tracks have been laid all the way to Lhasa, Chinese authorities and tour operators have begun planning the operation of passenger trains to the capital of Tibet.
According to Chinese sources, after the completion of the Lhasa-Golmud link, cargo trains will first make trial runs on the railway. Then, in the middle of 2006, passenger trains will begin to operate, providing visitors and tourists an opportunity to observe the landscape of Tibet as they make their way to Lhasa. Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation, the company in charge of the construction and management of the new railway, is said in the process of building special passenger cars for the planned operation. It is estimated that over a million travelers will make train trips to Lhasa every year. The train ride from Xining (the capital of Qinghai Province) and Lhasa would last approximately 20 hours.
The Lhasa-Golmud railway begins in Golmud in Qinghai Province and ends in Lhasa, Tibet. It is 1,160 km in length, and over 80% of it spreads over terrains over 4,000 meters above sea-level. The construction of the railway began three years ago; earlier this month the last rails were laid and Lhasa was connected to China's railway transportation system.
Over 1,300 years ago, when the imperial court of Tang China married a princess to the king of Tibet then, it took the princess and her entourage three years to travel over the difficult terrains and arrive in Lhasa.
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