Qinghai-Tibet Railway to come closer to India

Tibet will start building the first branch line for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world’s highest, this year, which will link Lhasa with Xigaze, the second largest Tibetan city, which is also close to India.

Construction of an extension line of the Qinghai-Tibet railway linking Tibet’s capital Lhasa to Xigaze will start this year and the 254-km line is expected to be completed in 2010, a senior Tibetan official said here. Tibetan officials have said the government was racing against time in its preparations so that the construction work to build the railway line to Xigaze could be kicked off as soon as possible.

Xigaze is the base of the Panchen Lama, Tibet’s third highest Buddhist spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama and Karmapa Lama. However, the Dalai Lama and Karmapa Lama are in exile in India. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway stretches 1,956 km from Xining to Lhasa. About 960 km is located 4,000 metres above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 metres, at least 200 metres higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, the former world’s highest track.