的Qinghai-Tibet Railway also called the Qingzang Railway orLhasa Expressis a railroad built on the "roof of the world". It's the longest plateau railway with thehighest altitudein the world. It is higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly theworld's highest railway.
It is the first and still theonly railwaythrough the hinterland ofTibet. Theconstructionof the railway has created engineering marvels and set a number of world records. Let's find out about it...
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- Where is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
- Qinghai-Tibet Railway Map
- Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction
- Qinghai-Tibet Railway Extensions
- Engineering Marvels of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Where is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway?
TheQinghai-Tibet Railwayruns from north to south betweenXining— the capital ofQinghai Province— andLhasa— the capital ofTibet. The total length of the line is 1,956km(1,215 miles).
About960 kilometers(600 miles) of the line is more than4,000meters (13,000 feet) above sea level and thehighest pointreaches altitude5,072meters (16,640 feet).
The railwayfirstheads west into the hinterland of theTibetan Plateau, through thesalty Qaidam Depressiondesert and theKunlun Mountains, then south over theTuotuo(Yangtze) River, through theTangula Mountains, and intoTibet Autonomous Region. Then it passes through Amdo,Nagqu, Damxung, and Yambajan stations on its way toLhasa.
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway accesses breathtakingscenery,includingQinghai Lake,Hoh XilNature Reserve, and theNyainqen TangulaMountains.
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Map
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Map
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction
The railway was built by joining2 sectionstogether. The first section starts fromXiningand ends inGolmudwith a total length of 814km (506 miles). The second section starts fromGolmudand is inLhasaand is 1,142km (710 miles) long.
The underdevelopedtransportinfrastructure on theTibetan Plateauseriously restricted the development of the regional economy. In1949, Tibet had only one kilometer of road for automobile travel!
In the 1950s, China's government decided to connectLhasawith other parts of China.
In 1984, after 30 years of surveys and construction, theXining-Golmudsection of theQinghai-Tibet Railwaywas completed. It starts in Xining city and goes westwards to Golmud passing through mountains, grasslands,Gobi deserts, salt lakes, and swamps.
In 2001, the construction of theGolmud-Lhasasection of Qinghai-Tibet Railway was officiallyinitiated,which lasted for six years.
In 2006, the two sections werejoined togetherand opened to traffic on July 1.
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Extensions —3 More Tibet Railways
Lhasais the final stop on theQinghai-Tibet Railway, but there are other railway lines inTibettraveling onward from Lhasa. WithLhasaat its center, rail lines extend into other prefectures, including the border areas ofTibet. There arethree railroadsbranching out from Lhasa.
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway forms part of a big Y-shapedTibet rail networktogether with theLhasa-Shigatse-Yadongline and theLhasa-Nyingchiline, with a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) inTibet.
The establishment of these lines will improve therailway networkin western China and open up transport channels into Tibet.
The Lhasa-Shigatse Railway— Tibet Railway No. 2
Also called theLasa-Rikaze Railway(Mandarin spelling), Tibet's second railway starts inLhasaand runs westwards toShigatsevia the Yaluzhangbu River.
The total length of theLhasa-Shigatse Railwayis 253km (157 miles). Covered at a top speed of 120kph (75 mph), the train journey is less than3 hours. It was opened to traffic inAugust 2014.
The Shigatse-Yadong Railway — a China-India Railroad
Yadong, on China's border withBhutanand also close to theIndia border, is one of the major border towns inTibet. TheShigatse-Yadong Railwayline is currently under planning[2021].
The railroad toYadongis planned to be connected with theIndian railway network, forming a passageway to South Asia and out to the Indian Ocean.
The Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway — Tibet's First Bullet Trains
Starting fromLhasa Station, continuing down theLhasa River,then heading eastwards toNyingchithrough theYaluzhangbu Canyon, theLhasa-Nyingchi高铁(高速铁路)firstelectrified railway in Tibet with a total length of 433 km (269 miles) and a top speed of 160kph (99 mph).
TheLhasa-Nyingchitrains will be the firstbullet trainsin Tibet, and they are to be put into operation inJuly 2021.The train journey will be only3 hours, which is 5 hours faster than by road.
It will eventually connect withhigh-speedrailways in theSichuanprovince of theNyingchi-Ya'an-Chengdurail line. TheSichuan-Tibet Railwayis to be thesecondrailway into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
- 8 Days Chengdu Pandas, Sichuan Cuisine and Lhasa Tibetan culture Tour
- 5-Days Lhasa Classics and Lake Yamdrok Tour
Engineering Marvels of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
The elevation of theTibetan Plateauis mostly between3,000and5,000meters. There was little experience of building railways at such a height anywhere in the world outside the Andes.
Theconstructionof the Qinghai-Tibet Railway produced many engineering marvels and world records.
The Permafrost Engineering Challenge
Permafrostis a mixture of soil and ice that typically remains frozen all year (though it may thaw in some years). It threatens roadbed stability — the foundation for railway tracks.
Making astable roadbedin permafrost was the most challenging part of the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Engineers successfully solved the problem based on research intofrozen soilin Russia, Canada, and Northern Europe.
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway took the record for thelongest trackthroughpermanently frozenareas with more than550kilometers (342 miles) of the railway built on permafrost.
Qinghai-Tibet Train running on Tibetan Plateau
The High-Altitude Health Challenge
85% of theQinghai-Tibet Railwaywas built on the mountainous terrain of more than4,000meters (13,000 feet) above sea level, where the annual average temperature isbelow 0°C(32°F) and theoxygencontent is only 50–60% of that at sea level.
People can easily getsickordiebecause of the harsh cold, thin air, and strong radiation of thehigh altitudes.Oxygen suppliersand medical institutions were set up along the railway, with more than 600 medical staff offering treatment to workers.
There wasno death在青藏Railw建设ay, creating a marvel in the history ofTibetan Plateaumedicine.
The Ecology Preservation Challenge
Rich infloraandfauna, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway passes through several areas of China's national nature reserves, such as theHol Xil National Nature Reserve.
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway'secological environmentis fragile. If one of its ecosystems was damaged /disturbed, it would struggle to recover in a short time, if ever.
In order to protect the habitat ofTibetan antelopeand other wild animals, 33 specialpassagewayswere established under the railway for the immigration. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway was given the title ofan 'environmental protection railway'.
10 World Records Held by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Theconstructionof the Qinghai-Tibet Railway broke manyworld recordsin the sphere of railway transportation, and at least10haven't been surpassed since it opened in 2006.
1. The World's Longest High-Altitude Plateau Railway
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway is thelongest railwayacross a highland plateau in the world, with a total length of1,956 km(1,215 miles), starting atXiningat an altitude of 2,200 m (7,200 ft).
TheGolmud-Lhasasection of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway passes through desert, swamp wetland, and snow-capped mountains, and grassland, with a total mileage of 1,142 km(710 miles), most of which is above3,000 m(10,000 ft).
2. The World's Highest Railroad
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway is more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level for960 kilometers(600 miles). Its highest point is Tangula Mountain Passat an altitude of5,072meters (16,640 feet), known as the 'nearest railway to the sky'.
3. The World's Fastest High-Altitude Plateau Railway
青藏铁路是目前fastesthigh-altitude railway in the world. The speed of trains reaches100 km/h(62 mph) in thefrozen-soilsection and 120 km/h (75 mph) in the non-frozen-soil section.
4. The World's Longest Rail Track on Frozen Earth
的Qinghai-Tibet Railway is thelongest rail trackon permafrost in the world, with a mileage of550 km(342 miles). It is known (by Chinese engineers) as'the world's permafrost engineering museum'.
5. The World's Highest Railway Station
TangulaRailway Station in the center of theTibetan Plateauis at altitude5,068meters (16,627 feet) above sea level, making it thehighest altituderailway station in the world by almost 300 meters (1,000 feet).
Tangula Mountain
6. The World's Highest Permafrost Tunnel
Fenghuoshan Tunnelis at an altitude of 5,010 meters (16,437 feet) with a total length of 1,338meters (4,390 feet). It is the highest altitudepermafrosttunnel in the world, and so it is called the 'world'sNo. 1 high tunnel' in China.
7. The World's Longest Permafrost Tunnel
The majesticKunlun Mountainrange has been dubbed "the Ridge of Asia." TheKunlun Mountain Tunnel, which is 4,767 meters (15,640 feet) above sea level, is the world'slongestplateau tunnel built through frozen earth and rock at1,686meters (1.05 miles) long.
8. The World's Longest Rail Bridge on Permafrost
Qingshuihe River Bridgeis thelongestpermafrost-area rail bridge in the world. The 11,700-meter-long (7.27-mile-long) bridge runs across the edge ofHol XilNational Nature Reserve from the south of theKunlun Mountains.
9. The World's Highest Track-Laying Base
Thetrack-laying basein Amdo County, Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is thehighestin the world at an altitude of 4,704 meters (15,433 feet).
10. The World's Most Expensive High-Altitude Railway
At the time of construction, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was themost expensiveof its kind, though other Tibet railways are set to surpass it. See the cost below.
10 Interesting Qinghai-Tibet Railway Facts
1. Thetotal investmentof constructing theGolmud-Lhasasection of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which is onlysingle-track, was33 billionCNY (4.7 billion USD).
2. TheXining-Golmudsection is adouble-trackrailway, while theGolmud-Lhasasection is asingle-track.
Due to the high altitude andharsh coldin the Golmud-Lhasa section, adouble-trackrailroad was prohibitivelyexpensive(and would have caused unnecessary environmental damage).
Though asingle-trackrailway cannot allow two trains to run side-by-side, a large number of two-track stations and sidings were designed to allow one train tostopandwaitfor another to pass.
3. When a train from Xining arrives in Golmud, theelectric locomotiveis replaced with adiesel locomotive(and vice-versa for trains from Lhasa).
Xining-Golmudtrains are driven byelectricity, but electric power generation is virtually undeveloped between Golmud Station and Lhasa, and providing electricity would have created even greater challenges to the construction of the Golmud-Lhasa railway. Hence, a locomotive with aninternal combustionengine is used for theGolmud-Lhasasection.
4. There are"hot rods"installed on both sides of the railroad.
You will find rows oflashing metal pipesinserted into the sub-grade ground on both sides of the track. Colloquially called'hot rods', they keep thefrozen soilfrom melting and hence becoming weak. (The 'hot rods' are actually passive heat exchangers containing coolant fluids like those in refrigerators.)
Qinghai-Tibet Railway passing through the Chaerhan Salt Lake
5.38 of the 45 stations on theGolmud-Lhasasection areunattended.
The averagealtitudeis around 4,000 meters for theGolmud-Lhasasection. To minimize the number of staff at such a high altitude, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway uses infrared and other remote monitoring systems atunmannedstations.
6. A specialgarbage compressoron the train is used to treat waste.
To ensure the environment along the railway is not polluted bygarbage, an innovative garbage collection system was developed. Golmud-Lhasa section trains will transport all garbage generated along the way to Lhasa or Golmud for treatment.
7. After the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened to traffic, theper capita income藏族牧民(之前上涨了四倍2015].
8. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway recorded itslargest dailynumber of 19,065 passengers in October 7, 2019.
By 2018, the railway had sent 2.862 millionpassengerjourneys in total (each train takes about 936 passengers).
9. Qinghai-Tibet Railway haszeroimpact on ecology.
Since the operation of the Tibet railway, theecological environmentof theQinghai Tibet Plateauhas not been affected. At present, protected areas along the railway account for 41% of the total mileage.
The number ofTibetan antelopeshas actually increased from 50,000 tomorethan 300,000 over the last 15 years.
10. TheGolmud-Lhasasection of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was built with"seamless rails".
There is nearlyno joinin the rails of the whole 1,142-kilometer section. This improves the reliability of the track and speeds up train speeds, as well as increasespassenger comfortby eliminating the clicked-clack of train wheels going over track joins.
Altitudes of Key Qinghai-Tibet Railway Features
Known as'the road to the sky'in China, theQinghai-Tibet Railwayhas many of the highest altitudes of railway features in the world. Most sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are ataltitudesof over 3,000 meters, while 960km of the line is at elevations above 4,000 meters.
Tangula MountainPass at5,072meters above sea level is thehighestaltitude reached along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, while Tangula Station is the highest railway station in the world.
Almost85%of stations on the line are noticeablylacking oxygenwith as little as 60% of that at sea level. See below foraltitudesat major sights andstationsalong the railroad.
| Feature | Altitude (m) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Xining | 2,200 | Terminal station, capital of Qinghai |
| Qinghai Lake | 3,200 | Largest salt lake in China |
| Cha'erhan Salt Lake | 2,600 | Site of the Great Salt Bridge — the only railway built on salt |
| Guanjiao Tunnel | 3,690 | Longest railway tunnel in China at 32 km, highest tunnel of the Xining-Golmud section |
| Delingha | 3,000 | An important Qinghai-Tibet Railway station |
| Golmud | 2,828 | An important Qinghai-Tibet Railway station, the second-largest city in Qinghai Province |
| Nanshan Mountain | 3,080 | The real starting point of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway |
| Nachitai | 3,575 | The first sightseeing station where the train will stop for a while |
| Yufeng Peak | 4,195 | Sightseeing station for a view of the Kunlun Mountains and Yufeng Peak |
| Chuma'er River | 4,495 | Wildlife migration corridor, northern Yangtze tributary |
| Tuotuo River | 4,547 | Most villages, key transport corridors, sources of the Yangtze |
| Hoh Xil Nature Reserve | 4,500 | "Forbidden zone for humans" |
| Wudaoliang | 4,611 | Beginning of the lowest oxygen section of the railway — beware of altitude sickness |
| Fenghuoshan Tunnel | 4,780 | The highest tunnel on permanently frozen soil in the world |
| Tangula Mountain | 5,068 | Highest railway station in the world at the Qinghai-Tibet border |
| Amdo | 4,702 | An important station on the railway where passengers can get on/off |
| Cona Lake | 4,594 | Closest lake to the railway, where passengers can enjoy the view through the window |
| Changtang Grassland | 4,500 | One of the largest grasslands in China surrounded by the Kunlun, Tangula, and Nyainqen Tangula ranges |
| Nagqu | 4,513 | An important station on the railway where passengers can get on/off. |
| Lake Namtso | 4,718 | One of the sacred lakes for Tibetans |
| Nyaingen Tangula | 4,600 | One of the sacred mountain ranges for Tibetans |
| Yambajan | 4,306 | Famous for its steam field, geothermal resources, and hot springs |
| Lhasa | 3,602 | Terminal station, capital of Tibet |
You should read >>How to deal with Altitude Sickness
The scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
The railway provides a gorgeous journey across theQinghai-Tibet Plateauwith scenery including the blue diamondQinghai Lake, shining white Chaerhan Salt Lake, the spectacularKunlun Mountains, andHoh Xil, where you can see groups of Tibetan antelopes running freely.
Passing by Hoh Xil Nature Reserve
这是一个戏剧性的时刻当火车通过ughTangula MountainPass. The nearby sightseeing station is cold andlacks oxygen(60% of normal levels), but you may still want to venture out of the train for the experience and view.
See more >>Breathtaking Scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Tibet Trains
Train tickets toLhasacan be bought departing severallarge citiesin China, such asBeijing,Shanghai,Xi'an,Guangzhou,Chengdu,Chongqing,Lanzhou, andXining. However, all passengers musttransferto an oxygen-supplied Qinghai-Tibet Railway train atXining Station.
A ticket fromXining to Lhasais muchmore recommendedthan from e.g. Beijing to Lhasa. Xining to Lhasa trains offer theshortesttrip with a duration of 20 to 22 hours, and they also have more departures than other cities', allowingmore flexibility.
FromBeijing to Lhasa, the journey time is 40+hours. It is not worth staying an extra up to 20 hours on a train with nothing in particular to see. The best views are, after all, on the 14-hourGolmud to Lhasasection.
You may want to readHow to Get to Xining.
Contact usfor Tibet train schedules and prices.
Qinghai-Tibet train carriages are all equipped with anoxygen supplysystem. You can also use the oxygen outlets located on the corridors and soft sleeper cabins to help you with altitude sickness.
Soft Sleeper Cabin- Lower Berth
Otherfacilitiesand services offered includea restaurantcar, Western andsquat toilets, luggage racks over the seats/corridors, hot water, andmedical services.
See more onThings You Need to Know for Taking a Train to Tibet.
Experience the Qinghai-Tibet Railway with Us
Our popular7-Day Tibet Tour by Train from Xiningallows you an experience of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway to your way to Lhasa. Tibet train tickets are very popular and always fully booked during peak season fromJunetoOctober.
We will try our best to help you get train tickets (we almost never fail), as well as apply for the necessary Tibet permits for you.
Traveling by train in China is not an easy thing for foreign travelers, as there is little/no English-speaking service. Signage, announcements, and train tickets are all in Chinese.
With our private tour, your personal English-speaking guides will help you with many aspects to ensure your train travel and tour goes smoothly.
Our recommendedTibet tourscan all be customized.
- 11-Day Overland Trip from Lhasa to Kathmandu
- 8-Days Lhasa to Everest Base Camp Tour
- 7-Days Tibet Tours by Train from Xining
- 5-Days Lhasa Classics and Lake Yamdrok Tour
- 4-Days Lhasa Highlights Comfort Tour
Or you couldlet us know your requirements for a tailor-made trip.
