Asia Expats Forum

Mike · Site Admin Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 4512 Location:

By David Browne

LONDON (eTurboNews) -- The world’s highest and most remote railroad is on schedule for completion, according to Chinese officials, but its construction is causing some controversy that has been largely overlooked by the rest of the world.

The rail line is being built on the Tibet Plateau, more than 12,000 feet above sea level (4,000 m) and runs from Xining in the Chinese province of Qinghai to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Part of the line over Chinese territory is already in operation.

The Chinese minister of railways gave a progress report to the National People’s Congress in Beijing and said that track-laying would be completed by the end of this year, on schedule. Trials will then be conducted during 2006 and the line should open fully for public and commercial rail traffic in mid-2007.

The line is regarded by the Chinese as a key venture to develop the western regions of China. It will also provide improved transportation between Tibet and China, linking Lhasa to China’s rail network. One of the main goals of the project is to develop tourism to Tibet and to increase the pace of local economic development.

Local people have welcomed the coming of the railroad, which they believe will open up new opportunities for transporting goods including farm products and ethnic handicrafts. But the key benefit will be the opening of a new route for tourists.

Tibet receives about 400,000 visitors each year but this is expected to increase to one million by 2010. The new rail line follows ancient trading routes but with modern trains, passengers will be able to ride from Beijing to Lhasa in 50 hours, passing through glorious mountain landscape in a region known as the Roof of the World.

“The railway will greatly reduce transport costs for material entering and leaving Tibet, which will help domestic and foreign enterprises that want to set up in the Tibetan market,” said an economics researcher from the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences.

The project has attracted some opposition, however. The line cuts across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau which is a vulnerable high-altitude eco-system and environmentalists believe it will cause untold damage.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has designated the plateau as a top priority global protection zone. It is also regarded by the Chinese as a priority in their bio-diversity conservation program. The government budget of over US$ 3 billion for the rail line’s construction includes a substantial amount for environmental protection.

Special bridges and cut-throughs are being built to enable migrating wild-life to cross the line. Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks, snow leopards and deer are a few of the species whose migration routes are being interrupted.

Campaigners opposed to Chinese rule in Tibet also claim that there are sinister motives behind the railroad development. They say that while it will benefit the local economy of western China and remote parts of Tibet, it will also enable China to consolidate its control over Tibet. “The Tibet Railway will greatly speed colonization of the area. It will military troops to be brought in, and more natural resources to be exploited and removed from Tibet,” said a spokesman for the International Campaign for Tibet.

Campaigners also complain that building the railroad employs 38,000 people but only about 6,000 of them are Tibetans, and then only in low-paid manual labor tasks.
_________________
Asia Expats Forum
Expat Friends Dating

Wocca · Scribe Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 970 Location:

There's something interesting geophysical problems connected with the railway construction. Because of the weather extremities, sound of the ground blisters and swells into small moon-like mounds. These have to be considered when placing the railway tracks. Shocked

_________________
EXPAT IN CHINA