Qingzang railway

The Qingzang railway (also called Qinghai–Xizang railway, or Qinghai–Tibet railway) is a railway line from Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa in Tibet.

The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 m (16,640 feet) above sea level the world's highest rail track and Tanggula Railway Station which is the highest railway station. The 1,338 m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world, at 4,905 m above sea level. The 3,345-m Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line. It is 4,264 m above sea level, 80 kilometres north-west of Lhasa.

More than 960 km, or over 80% of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and over half the length of the railway is laid on permafrost.^[1] The railway which was finished in 2006 is said to not help the people of Tibet.^[2]

It takes about 3 days to go from Lhasa to Guangzhou or Shanghai.

Qingzang Railway Media

Map of the Qinghai–Tibet railway
Line Z21/Z22 serves between Beijing West railway station and Lhasa railway station
Lhasa station
Train running along the Qinghai Lake, between Xining and Golmud
Tanggula railway station, located at 5,068 m (16,627 ft), is the highest station in the world
A section of the railway between Nanshan and Erlang, in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai
Spiral loop at Guanjiao, Qinghai
The Qingzang Railway of Tibet, at the Kunlun Pass south of Golmud. Photo by Andreas Gruschke
Wetland by the railway, near the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains
Specially built plateau coaches at Beijing West railway station, arriving from Lhasa as Z22