Tibet’s 1st electric railway line near India border to be inaugurated on Friday
Tibet’s 1st electric railway line near India border to be inaugurated on Friday
China is set to inaugurate its first electric train service in Tibet between capital Lhasa and Nyingchi city close to the border with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh on Friday, a week before the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates its 100th birthday on July 1.
The inauguration of the new line marks a key milestone in Beijing’s long-term vision to build infrastructure in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and connect the remote border areas and Lhasa to interior China.
The terminus of the railway line is likely to be close to the Bayi town area, near the border with India.
With a speed of 160kmph, the railway service will be the fastest in Tibet.
The 435km rail line passes through 47 tunnels and 120 bridges, according Tibet Railway Construction, a subsidiary company of China State Railway Group, which built it.
Construction had started in 2014 on the railway line connecting Lhasa and Nyingchi in southeastern Tibet.
Until the end of last year, 31.2 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) had been invested in the project, according to official data.
A state media report said on Thursday the new railroad is an important part of the Sichuan-Tibet railway link under construction and a common line of the planned Yunnan-Tibet rail service.
The Sichuan-Tibet railway is a major transport construction project of the 14th five-year plan that covers the period from 2021 to 2025.
China has been rapidly developing infrastructure in Nyingchi, which like the rest of TAR is not accessible to foreign journalists and diplomats.
The Chinese government is building the Sichuan-Tibet railway’s Ya’an-Nyingchi section, which will be 1,011km in length and include 26 stations when completed - taking the railway right up to the boundary with India.
The state media report added that its completion and opening is a realisation of “everyone’s dream of ‘getting on a train to Nyingchi’, and it is of great significance to help rural revitalisation and promote the high-quality development of Tibet”.
The city of Nyingchi already has a functional airport, which is said to be of dual use – civil and military.
The Lhasa-Nyingchi highway, too, has been in operation for two years.
The 409.2km highway cuts travel time between the two cities in TAR from eight hours to four hours.
In May, China completed the construction of a strategically significant highway through the world’s deepest canyon in TAR on the Brahmaputra river (known as Yarlung Zangbo in China), connecting remote areas along the Arunachal border.
It was the “second significant passageway” to Medog county that borders Arunachal, the Xinhua news agency reported in May, directly connecting the Pad township in Nyingchi to Baibung in Medog county.
Earlier this year, China’s state planning organisation, the National Development and Reform Commission, said it will strengthen construction of railway projects, which are strategic for border defence.
