Qinghai-Tibetan Railway. Qinghai-Tibet Railway So, about the trip from Xining to Tibet
The most important thing in every journey is to arrange the transfers correctly. Firstly, because this is the lion's share of the cost of the entire tour. Secondly, the success of the trip and the overall impression often depend on where and on what you go to Tibet.
I am in charge of receiving Russian-speaking tourists in Tibet. Due to the peculiarities of my activity, I travel a lot, I can, both on my own experience and on the experience of hundreds of tourists who come to Tibet every month, tell all the pros and cons of different ways of arriving at the Roof of the World.
In this short essay, I will share my experience of arriving in Tibet by train through Xining (Qinghai Province, China).
I’ll say right away, if it were not for work, I would never have gone like this myself. But every year there are travelers (it's hard to say on what basis) who seriously believe that this is a great way to visit Tibet, they say, "gradual acclimatization" and so on. By the way, those who come to Tibet by car from Nepal think the same way, then suffer from altitude sickness the whole trip.
Objectively, there are two advantages of arriving in Tibet on the Beijing-Xining air route, Xining-Lhasa railway:
1.small savings compared to Beijing-Lhasa air,
2. Reducing the risks associated with purchasing railway tickets in comparison with the Beijing-Lhasa railway.
What is the difficulty of getting to Tibet by train?
Railway tickets for trains entering Tibet are always in short supply. Why? There is only one railway path connecting Tibet with the outside world. This is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. All passing trains (Beijing-Lhasa, Shanghai-Lhasa, Guangzhou-Lhasa, Chengdu-Lhasa) are assembled in Xining. These are trains that run 1 time per day or 1 time per two days. During the tourist season, they are always filled with passengers already at the point of departure. Even at the point of departure, getting tickets for these trains becomes a problem if the travel time falls between the end of April and the end of October, as well as on Chinese public holidays. At this time, there are simply no coupe and reserved seat tickets at the box office, even more so on the Internet. All of them are first withdrawn from sale by the state, because this is an important strategic line. Further, through relations with the heads of the stations, tickets partially fall into the hands of professional dealers. And from them, through connections, again (since this activity is illegal and punishable), tickets sometimes end up with simpler speculators, and then to travel agencies and to clients. That is why in China, in addition to the cost of the ticket itself, which is indicated on it, there is also the cost of services for buying a ticket. At the height of the tourist season (July, August, September and holidays), the cost of services can be equal, and sometimes even exceed the cost of the ticket itself. Therefore, in the summer, groups traveling to Tibet from China are advised to fly by plane: fewer problems, faster, easier acclimatization and not much more expensive than a train, which takes two days to get there.
The second difficulty of arriving in Tibet by train is acclimatization. This applies to all trains to Tibet, since they all pass through Xining and on the same Qinghai-Tibet railway call into Lhasa in Tibet. Why is acclimatization worse on the train? Because the body begins to feel the height and adapt to it, overcoming 3000 meters above sea level, and everything up to 3000 feels like sea level, there is no difference. Arriving by plane to Lhasa, you get to an altitude of 3650 meters, and calmly acclimatize one night. Observing the elementary safety rules on the first evening (move a little, do not drink alcohol, smoke less and do not take a shower), you will easily acclimate and in the morning you will already feel like at sea level. It's different on the train. First, the train on the second night, when you are already pretty tired of the road, overcomes an altitude of 5200 meters above sea level, passing the Tangula pass. This is a serious test for any organism, even for people who have lived in the mountains for many years or have experience traveling in the highlands. Secondly, oxygen is supplied to the train, which prevents the body from adapting to altitude naturally. If you immediately "get hooked" on oxygen, then upon arrival in Lhasa it will also be required, and without it you will have a headache and all the symptoms of altitude sickness will be yours. Thirdly, the train has only a few stops, there is no way to get off, get some fresh air. Fourthly, on trains that run for two days there is still a nurse who has nothing good in her first-aid kit except green stuff. And there are no doctors on the one-night trains. Health problems often occur and the conductors run around the carriages in search of any doctors among the passengers.
I had a funny case, in my permit to enter Tibet they wrote that I am a doctor, but this is not so, I have no medical knowledge to provide assistance. So, at night on the Xining-Lhasa train, the conductor wakes me up: "Girl, girl, are you a doctor?" I remember from a dream that the permit says so, I react quickly, that once it is written, I must say "yes", suddenly she checks me (which also happens). Doctor, I say. - "Urgently, there in another carriage a child burned himself with boiling water, help!" - .... child, boiling water .... no, in such cases I can’t help with anything, I decide, and I answer: “Sorry, I can’t treat such problems,” and I continue to sleep. After about 20 minutes, about eight people come to my compartment, with a crying child in their arms, the poor child's skin is all open, he yells, well, how can I help, there is no doctor on the train !!! The frightened Uighur mother begs me to help them ... He called himself a load - climb into the back. I had to say that I am a psychologist, and I don’t understand in such matters ... The neighbors in the carriage began to give popular advice: to attach a cucumber and the like, but in fact the situation with the burn was already at the stage when the help of a specialist was required, therefore my conscience is clear, because I did not give popular advice, the only thing that can be done in such cases is to survive the night, wait for the next day, get off the train and run to the hospital in Lhasa.
So, about the trip from Xining to Tibet
There are only 6 flights a day from Beijing to Xining. The planes are small Boeing 737s. The most suitable flight, of course, is the earliest, so as not to spend the night in Xining. Arriving on the earliest flight from the airport, you can immediately go to the railway station and after lunch take the Xining-Lhasa train. Xining Airport, despite the fact that it is a large transport hub, is very small. If you fly to Xining, you will be met at the airport with a sign. The greeters stand right after the baggage claim area. There are no Russian speaking guides in Xining, so an English speaking person will meet you here. One should not rely on the level of the English language here. Still, Xining lags far behind, for example, Beijing or Lhasa in terms of the level of development of tourist services.
If you are planning excursions in Qinghai (Taer Monastery (Kumbum) or Qinghai Lake), then you can arrive on any flight from Beijing to Lhasa, check into a hotel in Xining and travel around Xining.
If you immediately want to leave for Tibet, then having arrived from Beijing to Xining on the earliest flight from the airport, you must immediately go to the railway station. Train Xining (Lanzhou) - Lhasa number 917 departs at 15-04. If there are other trains. Tickets are no longer issued 3 hours before the train leaves. Therefore, for example, if you are traveling on your own and decided to solve the issue of your own train tickets, say, you have tickets issued on the Internet, then they must be received at the box office before 12 noon. And for this you always have to defend a gigantic queue, present a permit to Tibet and originals of passports. If you use the services of a travel agency, we will do everything for you without your original passport. In Xining, we have direct contacts with professional resellers of railway tickets. They often work miracles. But they, too, are powerless when political constraints come into play.
It happens that tickets have been ordered and paid for, but they never went on sale, and the trains will go empty (!), But tickets will not be on sale! You may never understand the real reasons for this situation. Why? For example, one of these days, a provocative action will take place in some village, in which the national minorities of the PRC (Tibetans, Uighurs, etc.) will take part. In such cases, the government often restricts entry into problem areas. Tibet suffers from this all the time! For example, when in April 2012 I was traveling on the Xining-Lhasa train, according to rumors (and usually these are rumors, the news will never say about it), in the village of Yushu "something similar happened." So for 5 days after our arrival, Xining-Lhasa tickets did not go on sale, and the trains were half empty.
Here I would like to explain to travelers why railway tickets in China, especially for trains to Tibet, are always problematic, and until the last moment, tickets are not issued to tourists. In China, this is exactly the situation with railway tickets. Therefore, do not torment yourself with the questions "why?", "And it is not so with us ...". This is a feature of China, if you choose to travel by train, there is always the risk of problems with arrival. If you do not want these problems, it is better to fly by plane, there are no such problems with air tickets!
I especially appeal to pilgrims and tourists to Mount Kailash. The journey is not easy, it will require physical and mental strength from you. If the budget does not allow you to fly by plane to Tibet and back, then choose this option: to Tibet by air, from Tibet by train. This way you will not come to Tibet tired of the train, do not damage your acclimatization, and train tickets for trains leaving Tibet are always easier to get than for trains entering Tibet.
Getting to Tibet is not as easy as it might seem. First you need to get permission. It is given exactly for the time for which you book the tour. You can't just come to Tibet. Tour prices bite. For three we paid $ 1800 for 3 days. This is for an individual guide, entry permit, train tickets, and temple tickets. Everything. A good hotel - at least another $ 150 per night per room. You actually pay for an entry permit and a guide.
How do the Chinese authorities explain why foreigners need to get permission to travel to Tibet? It's very simple: "Tibet is a specific region of China."
Therefore, the State Council of China (government) decided that
Based on folk traditions and cultural heritage;
... on the requirements of environmental protection;
... based on the characteristics of traffic and the reception capacity of the tourist infrastructure
non-Chinese citizens must obtain permission to enter Tibet.
Like this! That is, the point is not at all that you can unfold the banner "Free Tibet!" and shout "Dalai Lama for the presidency!" Rather, the whole point is that foreigners are used to shit everywhere. All the rivers and air of China have been dirtied, all entrances have already been pissed off! Therefore, to Tibet - only with permission! This is the last clean piece of land.
By the way, foreign diplomats and journalists cannot travel to Tibet as tourists. They need special permission. You cannot go to Tibet without a guide either. You can only get to the region as part of a tourist group (even if you are traveling alone).
To Lhasa you have to either fly by plane or go by train. Well, you can still go by car, but it's generally tough. By the way, if you are a foreigner, then formally you cannot get to Tibet by driving a car, only as a passenger (and, again, a member of a tourist group). Although there were such precedents.
The main problem here is height. Lhasa is located at an altitude of 3490 meters. The train crosses the Tang-La pass at an altitude of 5072 meters (the highest point of this railway), and many die on it from altitude sickness. There is another problem: to make passengers feel comfortable, oxygen is supplied to the train. They say that because of this, the body then does not well undergo acclimatization, since it takes oxygen on the train per day. In general, all the room experts on the internet strongly advise against traveling by train.
But this is the highest railway in the world! How can you miss such a miracle? And we went by train. One more point should be noted here. At the height of the tourist season, it is almost impossible to buy train tickets. You have to get them! You must have a special person who will get you a ticket at the last moment. In the process of getting a ticket, the price can double - of course, all this is unofficial.
The tickets were delivered to us the day before the train departure. So let's go!
01. The main station of Xining, from here by train to Lhasa to go 21 hours! The station is about the size of Vnukovo Airport. 
02. Tickets cannot be purchased online. More precisely, you can buy, but then with the reservation number and documents, you must definitely go to the cashier and pick them up. To get tickets, you must show permission to enter Tibet. In general, the process is approximately the same as when buying tickets for a train from Moscow to Kaliningrad (however, in our country, travel permits are given not by the Russian authorities, but by the Lithuanian authorities). 
03. We got the tickets in advance. The livery of ordinary cars is the same as we had during the Soviet Union. The cars themselves, of course, are new. 
04. The waiting room at the train station. How do you like it? To enter the station, you must show your tickets, passport and permission. All this will be scanned, then they will inspect you and only then they will let you into the building. No people seeing off or meeting people have the right to enter the station. 
05. Since Xining is the gateway to Tibet, and Tibet is China, all screens at the station show Comrade Xi Jinping bypassing the troops. The commercials run on all screens without stopping, and there is a reason - 90 years of the PRC army. 
06. Time for the train! They are allowed to enter the platform just before its departure. 
07. The train to Lhasa is additionally decorated. See what a beauty! 
08. The train to Lhasa is 21 hours. There are three classes of carriages: seated, soft sleeping and hard sleeping. With the sedentary, everything is clear, the layout of the seats is 3 + 2. 
09. The soft sleeping compartment is an analogue of our compartment. 4 shelves, bed. Since there are no overhead luggage racks, there is more space between the racks. And the coupe seems roomier than ours. Each compartment has a socket. 
10. If you decide to repeat my feat with a trip by rail, then I highly recommend that you take tickets for the evening train. At the beginning the road is not very beautiful: steppe and steppe all around. But in the morning, at 9 o'clock, the Tang-La pass begins with a height of more than 5000 meters. This is already beautiful. Passengers of morning trains do not see all this beauty, as they overcome the pass at night. 
11. Snow! 
12. There is an oxygen supply valve near each shelf. 
13. Landscapes 
14. Restaurant car, on the left in the boxes, fresh salad is growing. 
15. Along the railroad there is an automobile road, loaded wagons are slowly dragging along it. My feeling is that 80% of all transport is trucks. By the way, someone might want to go to Tibet by car. 
16. Alpine architecture settlements primitive and dull. 
17. Basically, these are some kind of trailers and tents, standing in the mud. 
18. Let's go back to our train. Amenities include a toilet. According to my feelings, during the movement it is not washed, so the further, the sharper the aromas. Sleeping near the toilet is difficult because of the pungent smell. 
19. Every third carriage has a toilet for the disabled! It is spacious and cleaner, since few people go to it. 
20. Along the road almost every kilometer there are booths with the inscription "People's Road Protection". In each booth a soldier sits and salutes the passing trains. There are really a lot of these booths, it is not very clear why they are. Maybe they are afraid of sabotage? 
21. Although, perhaps, these are railroad workers, not soldiers. 
22. In some places there are no booths, so a dude in uniform comes to the tracks by car and instead of saluting, he speaks on the phone. 
23. Beautiful 
24. As I said, there is a dining car on the train. But that's not all! Have you ever seen a karaoke car on a train? Here! And he is here! A whole car of unrestrained fun. Here you can buy booze and sing any songs. 
25. Despite the fact that it is strongly discouraged to drink alcohol at altitude, the local people are eating into the trash. 
26. How much beer do you need to eat? It should be borne in mind that the strength of Chinese beer is usually 3-4 degrees, so you need to try very hard. 
27. The train, by the way, is well decorated. 
28.
29. Rams are grazing outside the window. 
30. And yaks! The yak is the main animal here, there are some myriad herds. I have never seen so many yaks. They say, by the way, that in Tibet half of the dishes are prepared on the basis of yak meat (how to say in Russian, "yakatina"?). 
31. In a seated class, people also ferment. 
32.
33.
34. The train gradually descends, and the snow disappears, green meadows begin. 
35. There are no power outlets in the seated cars, so people charge their gadgets near the washstands through numerous extension cords and power banks. 
36. A new highway is being built outside the window! Construction has just begun, but overpasses and tunnels have already begun to be made somewhere. 
37. As I understand it, this is protection so that the path is not swept out in winter? And what is the grid of stones in the foreground? Why is she? 
38. Stops are few, and they are mostly used by locals. A tourist will not be able to get off at a halt, because the Chinese have thought of everything! As soon as you get on the train, your ticket is withdrawn, and instead of it you are given a plastic card with your seat number. To get off at any train station, you must show your ticket! And if there is no ticket, there is no exit in the wrong place! The ticket is returned to you immediately prior to arriving at your stop. Like this! In general, everything is strict.
39. The local people are dragging with them some giant bales. In general, it is not clear how they move with them at such a height. It is hard for an untrained person to breathe. Labor migration is very common in China. People constantly travel to work in more developed regions, that is, from west to east of the country. They are forced to carry with them a huge amount of belongings, with the help of which they settle in a new place. For example, they can carry with them a mattress on which they sleep at a construction site where they are hired to work. 
40. Interior of a sitting carriage 
41.
42. There is incredible beauty outside the window! 
43. It's worth driving only for the sake of the scenery. You sit and constantly shoot out the window. 
44. Isn't it a miracle? And yaks graze around! 
45.
46. On every camera post! What do you want? Difficult area. 
47.
48.
49. Minute advertising my good friend! Remember Moisha from New York? He worked as a paparazzi, and I did about his hard case. By the way, if you haven't read it, be sure to read it, it's cool. So, Moyshe got tired of running around New York for the stars, and he decided to sell tea! The tea is very good, delivered all over the world. If any of my readers are in the subject, then remember the site. Especially if you live in the USA. It is not so easy to enjoy black tea on the train: at an altitude, the water does not heat up to 100 degrees, and black tea is difficult to brew. 
50.
51. In the morning, local drunks began to play cards. The Chinese are very big fans of card and gambling games; this is a very frequent pastime. At the same time, gambling for money in China, of course, is prohibited, but still everyone is playing, everyone does not care for a long time. 
52. Clouds thickened over our train. 
53. How many yaks are there! 
54. What about food? Well, firstly, there is a restaurant car - you already understood that. And secondly, conductors with carts are constantly walking around the cars. 
55. They sell all kinds of little edible junk like chocolates and chips, as well as soda. I highly recommend taking food with you. 
56. In the morning, a cart with milk goes. 
57. All this construction of the road is planned. Highway to Tibet Soon! 
58.
59.
60. Unlike Russian trains, the washbasin in China is not in the toilet, but separately, right next to the vestibule instead of one of the compartments. It is very convenient: when everyone goes to brush their teeth in the morning, you do not have to stand in line to the toilet. 
61. Each carriage has free boiling water. 
62.
63. We drive up to Lhasa. 
64. Active construction of the historical and cultural heritage is underway. 
65. Trains are very clean, carpets everywhere! And the doors between the cars are always open, and you can walk safely. By the way, the couplings are sealed, nothing makes noise. You can stand in the vestibule and talk in a whisper. 
66.
67. Another station. 
68. Inscription on the road: "We will conduct construction in an exemplary manner to preserve the last clean piece of land in the world!" 
69. At each station there are people in uniform and keep order 
70. Passengers line up in neat lines. 
71.
72. And here it is, the Lhasa station! Huge! 
73. Foreigners must register with the police. Check the permit again and scan the passports. 
74. Tomorrow I'll start telling you about Tibet! Interestingly? 
On July 1, the opening ceremony of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was held in China. Golmud City, Qinghai Province became the main site of the ceremony dedicated to this event. Listen to our reporter's report from Gomud. The President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao attended and made a speech at the opening ceremony. He said that the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will go down in construction history.
The total length of the Tsikhai-Tibet Railway from Xining to Lhasa is 1,956 kilometers, with an average height of over 4,000 meters above sea level. Previously, the main means of transport here was the road and airlines from the inner cities of China to Tibet.
After the opening of the road, the number of tourists to Tibet will grow rapidly. However, the local government has already developed measures to protect cultural property and nature. Permafrost was one of the most difficult problems during the construction of the Tsikhai-Tibet railway. Here it stretches for more than 550 kilometers. When laying the bed of the Tsikhai-Tibet railway, Chinese specialists used the method of laying a special layer of crushed stone between the bed and the permafrost layer in order to prevent its melting.
The builders of the Tsikhai-Tibet Railway worked in a harsh climate. The temperature sometimes went up to minus 45 degrees. The number of days with strong winds was up to 160 days a year. In addition, the lack of oxygen at this altitude was a serious problem. During construction, special attention was paid to nature conservation. There are 33 dedicated wildlife passages along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. An employee at Wenga Sanctuary said, "We told the railroad builders where wild animals often pass and advised them to build appropriate passages for the animals. In the early days when the animal migration began, we advised the builders to stop work for 2-3 days. After the animals pass, they construction started again. "
The opening of the Qinghai Tibet Railway has fulfilled the dreams and hopes of many people. Religious leader Ned, who has the status of a "living Buddha" in the Tibetan Bon religion, expressed his best wishes to this railway in words taken from Buddhist canons. He said: "The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, like a golden dragon, brings people happiness and prosperity. I wish the Tibetan people and all other nationalities of China good luck and happiness, I wish this railway to work for their benefit, so that passengers and goods on it have always been safe and prosperous. I wish fruitful work and success to all those who wish to start their own business in Tibet and good luck and prosperity to those who are going to do business in the interior regions of the country. "
The total length of this road, which connects the administrative centers of Qinghai Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region - the cities of Xining and Lhasa - is 1,956 kilometers. The length of the newly built section Golmud - Lhasa is 1142 kilometers along the Kun-Lun and Tangla mountains. More than 550 kilometers of the trail run in the high-mountain tundra zone. 960 kilometers are laid at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, with the highest point reaching 5072 meters.
Tangla station has become the highest station in the world: it is located at an altitude of 5068 meters. The Fenghoshan Tunnel, pierced at an altitude of 4905 meters, is the highest in the world, and the Kun-Lun Tunnel, 1686 meters long, is the longest among those built in the high-mountain tundra zone, Xinhua reported.
The maximum train speed in the high-mountain tundra zone will be 100 km / h, in other regions up to 120 km / h. Each car is supplied with supplemental oxygen to prevent oxygen starvation. Protection against solar radiation is also provided. Information on electronic screens installed in each carriage of the train is transmitted in three languages at once: Chinese, Tibetan and English.
In the original version of the timetable, three pairs of passenger trains will run on the new road: Beijing - Lhasa, Chongqing - Chengdu - Lhasa, Lanzhou - Xining - Lhasa. The journey from Beijing will take exactly two days. Ticket prices range from 389 to 1262 yuan ($ 49-158), depending on the class of the carriage.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with a length of 1,100 kilometers, was built in uninhabited and uninhabited areas. 550 kilometers of this road was built in the permafrost zone of the highlands. Neither the Chinese nor the world history of the construction of railways has ever known the construction of such a railway. However, the army of millions of builders, showing an innovative spirit and adhering to a scientific approach, was able to overcome the difficulties of construction and successfully solve the most complex technical problems of construction in permafrost conditions of a global nature.
Frozen soil refers to the various layers of the earth and soil that contain pieces of ice. When frozen, frozen soil increases in volume, and in summer, when the ice melts, it decreases in volume. The variable state of such soil leads to the destruction of the railway track, the appearance of cracks on it or buildings. As evidenced by Russian data from 1994, in the 70s of the 20th century, during the construction of the second transsib, 27.5% of the railway track suffered from various negative impacts of the soil. According to China's data from 1990, the figure on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is 31.7%. Due to the negative effects of frozen soil in the world, trains on such railways can only travel at a speed of no more than 50 kilometers.
The Qinghai Tibetan Railway runs through the Kunlong Mountains, Tangla. The highest point of the road is 5072 meters above sea level. The construction conditions were very difficult - the presence of wetlands, frozen soil, heat surface of the earth in summer. All these were the most complex technological difficulties.
Although there is also frozen soil in Canada, Russia and other countries, due to the fact that they are located in high latitudes, such soil is more durable and stable. And on the sections of the Qinghai-Tibet railway from Geermu to Lhasa, due to the low latitude and altitude of the area, high solar radiation, the frozen soil has its own complex properties. The world's tallest tunnel was built in permafrost areas. The length of the tunnel is 1338 meters, the railway track was at an altitude of 4905 meters above sea level. From this one can judge how many of the most complicated technical problems were solved, and in what difficult conditions the construction of this railway took place.
It is the highest mountain railway in the world. "The road to the roof of the world" - Train to the roof of the world. It 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 Zedong instructed to consider the possibility of building a railway to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, despite the fact that no one had the experience of building railways in such, without exaggeration, extreme conditions. 
Work on the first phase of the 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 forces of prisoners - in this way the task was carried out to minimize costs. In 1979, the railway track came to Golmud. Although the construction of the road further into the mountains was approved, the health complications of the prisoners-builders associated with oxygen starvation, as well as the fact that a significant part of the road will be built in permafrost conditions, forced the construction to be stopped.
In the early years, the Xining-Golmud section was used exclusively by the military, and it was only in 1984 that it opened to passenger traffic. On this, the construction of the railway to the capital of Tibet stopped for more than 10 years ...
In the second half of the 90s, the government of the country gave an order to adjust 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 as one of the state priorities.
On July 29, 2001, from both ends, from Lhasa and from Golmud, detachments of construction workers moved towards each other. At the same time, the section of the first stage, Xining-Golmud, underwent a serious modernization: some engineering structures were overhauled, 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 widely covered in the press, including in the world, for Tibet this did not mean a direct connection on rails with the rest of the world: the builders requested several more months to run and debug the line. This continued for another 15 months.
Finally, on July 1, 2006, regular passenger traffic began on the entire Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The entire 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 runs at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, of which 160 kilometers at an altitude of 4000 - 4500 meters, 780 kilometers at an altitude of 4500 - 5000 meters and 20 kilometers of the line runs at an altitude of over 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 railroad station in the world. Not far from it, trains pass the highest point of the route - 5072 meters. 
There is no city 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 ranges from 60% to 40% compared to sea level. When the grand opening ceremony of the highway took place, many journalists required medical attention. Medical workers accompany passenger trains today. 
Another serious problem faced by the builders was permafrost. In such conditions, 640 kilometers of the line are located. At the same time, it should be noted that permafrost in Tibet is special, alpine. It has some differences from the permafrost so familiar to us in northern latitudes. Nevertheless, Russian engineers were invited to solve the problems that arose during the construction, because our country has a lot of experience in the construction of railways in similar geological conditions, primarily during the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The experience of our engineers during the construction of the tunnels was also useful. On the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is the highest mountain tunnel in the world, at an altitude of 4905 meters, and the most long tunnel- more than 3300 meters at an altitude of 4264 meters 80 kilometers from the final destination - Lhasa. 
Storms often occur in these places. In some cases, wind speeds can be as high as 150 kilometers per hour. Half of the highway is located in an earthquake-prone area: earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 or more are observed here.
Technical characteristics of the line: length of 1,142 kilometers, 965 kilometers at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, maximum slopes of 20 thousandths, minimum radii of curves 600 meters, vertical radii - 800 meters. Estimated speed of movement is 100 kilometers per hour. 7 tunnels and 675 bridges, with a total length of almost 160 kilometers. The line is single-track with siding, non-electrified. But at the same time, reserves have been made for possible electrification of the line in the future, as well as for an increase in speeds. 
Ecology was a separate line of project implementation. A significant part of the bridges located on the line are made for the unhindered passage of animals under them. Noise reduction technologies are also used. 
The passenger cars were specially designed by the Bombardier company by order of the Chinese Railways. The cars are completely sealed and designed for speeds up to 120 km / h. There are three classes in the carriages: seated, reserved seat and luxury. The inscriptions are everywhere duplicated in Tibetan, Chinese and English... Under each passenger compartment there is a connector for an oxygen tube and an oxygen control panel. In the event of a sudden de-germitisation, the individual oxygen masks are automatically folded back. Diesel locomotives for the line were produced in Pennsylvania at the factories of the General Electric concern. 
Restaurant car. 
It is the highest mountain railway in the world. "The road to the roof of the world" - Train to the roof of the world. It 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 Zedong instructed to consider the possibility of building a railway to the Tibet Autonomous Region, despite the fact that no one had the experience of building railways in such, without exaggeration, extreme conditions.
Work on the first phase of the 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 forces of prisoners - in this way the task was carried out to minimize costs. In 1979, the railway track came to Golmud. Although the construction of the road further into the mountains was approved, the health complications of the prisoners-builders associated with oxygen starvation, as well as the fact that a significant part of the road will be laid in permafrost conditions, forced the construction to stop.
In the early years, the Xining-Golmud section was used exclusively by the military, and it was only in 1984 that it opened to passenger traffic. On this, the construction of the railway to the capital of Tibet stopped for more than 10 years ...
In the second half of the 90s, the government of the country gave an order to adjust 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 as one of the state priorities.
On July 29, 2001, from both ends, from Lhasa and from Golmud, detachments of construction workers advanced towards each other. At the same time, the section of the first stage, Xining Golmud, underwent a serious 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 widely covered in the press, including in the world, for Tibet this did not mean a direct connection on rails with the rest of the world: the builders requested several more months to run and debug the line. This continued for another 15 months.
Finally, on July 1, 2006, regular passenger traffic began on the entire Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The entire 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 runs at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, of which 160 kilometers at an altitude of 4000 - 4500 meters, 780 kilometers at an altitude of 4500 - 5000 meters and 20 kilometers of the line runs at an altitude of over 5000 meters.
The highest railway station is Tangula Pass. It is located at an altitude of 5068 meters above sea level. It is the highest railway station in the world. Not far from it, trains pass the highest point of the route - 5072 meters.
The highest railway station - Tangula Pass
There is no city 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 ranges from 60% to 40% compared to sea level. And a person without special acclimatization and training can feel bad at such an altitude. When the grand opening ceremony of the highway took place, many journalists required medical attention. Medical workers accompany passenger trains today.
Another major problem faced by the builders was permafrost. In such conditions, 640 kilometers of the line are located. At the same time, it should be noted that permafrost in Tibet is special, alpine. It has some differences from the permafrost so familiar to us in northern latitudes. Nevertheless, Russian engineers were invited to solve the problems that arose during the construction, because our country has a lot of experience in the construction of railways in similar geological conditions, primarily during the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The experience of our engineers during the construction of the tunnels was also useful. On the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest tunnel in the world is located, 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.
Storms often occur in these places. In some cases, wind speeds can be as high as 150 kilometers per hour. Half of the highway is located in an earthquake-prone area: earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more are observed here.
Line specifications: the length is 1142 kilometers, 965 kilometers at an altitude of more than 4000 meters, the maximum slopes are 20 thousandths, the minimum radius of curves is 600 meters, vertical - 800 meters. Estimated speed of movement is 100 kilometers per hour. 7 tunnels and 675 bridges, with a total length of almost 160 kilometers. The line is single-track with siding, not electrified. But at the same time, provisions have 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 project implementation. A significant part of the bridges located on the line are made for the unhindered passage of animals under them. Noise reduction technologies are also used.
The passenger cars were specially designed by the Bombardier company by order of the Chinese Railways. The cars are completely sealed and designed for speeds up to 120 km / h. There are three classes in the carriages: seated, reserved seat and luxury. The inscriptions are duplicated everywhere in Tibetan, Chinese and English. Under each passenger seat there is a connector for an oxygen tube and an oxygen control panel. In case of sudden depressurization, individual oxygen masks are automatically folded back. Diesel locomotives for the line were produced in Pennsylvania at the factories of the General Electric concern.
Article source: http://chek-pipinda.livejournal.com/15065.html?thread=24281