The Sichuan–Tibet railway, Sichuan–Xizang railway or Chuanzang railway () is a high-elevation

higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of more than convent ...

way in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

that will connect

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...

, the provincial capital of

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

, and

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

, the provincial capital of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, when fully completed. The line will be long, and significantly cut travel time from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 to 13 hours.

History

The first segment to enter operation was from Chengdu–

Ya'an Ya'an (, Tibetan: Yak-Nga ) is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. The city is home to Sichuan Agricultural University, the only 211 Project university and the largest ...

on 28 December 2018. The second segment to enter operation, from

Nyingchi Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi and as Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District. Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery. Economy ...

–Lhasa, opened on 25 June 2021. The final Ya'an–Nyingchi segment is expected to complete in 2030. It is the first

electrified railway A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), ele ...

in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the first

on the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

. China high-speed railway service runs China Railway CR200J Fuxing series trainset on this line.

Construction

According to Chinese media, the Sichuan–Tibet railway is extremely difficult to construct. The railway has a huge elevation difference of 3000m. The starting point

Sichuan basin The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributar ...

only has 300m altitude, while the terminal is located 3000m above sea level on the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...

. 90% of the line runs altitude of more than 3000m. The Nyingchi segment alone runs through

Yarlung Tsangpo The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called D ...

river 16 times, and requires the construction of 47 tunnels and 121 bridges. One of the most challenging segments is the Milin tunnel with 10km in length. Milin tunnel sits 1200m below the surface under a mountain range, while has an average altitude of 3100m due to being situated on the Tibetan Plateau. A long Ya'an–Nyingchi segment will have 72 tunnels with a total length of with multiple tunnels with a length of more than , of which the longest tunnel is the Yigong Tunnel. The railway line is tunneled through areas with high-temperature crust. The total cost of the entire project is around 319.8 billion RMB.

Segments

Chengdu–Ya'an segment

201908 Sichuan-Tibet Railway Extension from Ya'an Station

Details of Ya’an Railway Station10 25 12 510000

The

segment is 140 km long and has a design speed of 200 km/h. This section opened on 28 December 2018.

Ya'an–Nyingchi segment

The

segment is and has a design speed of . It traverses a seismically active region with difficult terrain and a fragile ecology, and is the most difficult part of the railway to construct. The segment's construction started on 8 November 2020 with construction expected to last until 2030.

Nyingchi–Lhasa segment

The

segment has completed construction and has begun operations. The segment has a design speed of . Nyingchi segment includes 47 tunnels, 121 bridges and a 525m long Zangmu Railway Bridge. Construction began on 19 December 2014. Tracklaying completed in December 2020. This section opened on 25 June 2021. On 25 June 2021, the segment began operations, with the first train leaving Lhasa for Nyingchi at 10.30 am. The railway reduces the travel time from Lhasa to Nyingchi from 5 hours to 3.5 hours and Shannan to Nyingchi from 6 hours to more than 2 hours compared to roads. Aside from passenger service, it’s also capable of transporting 10 million tonnes of freight annually.

Rolling stock

160 km/h services use the China Railway CR200J trainsets. CR200J Plateau variant will serve the railway, and it's a type of bi-mode locomotive specifically designed for plateau operations. 31 sets of train in 12 car configuration is in service. A combination of diffusion and distributed oxygen systems are installed to help alleviate

altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...

for passengers on the trip.

Benefits

The railway will greatly reduce travel times and increase connectivity between

and the eastern cities of the country. Prior to the Sichuan-Tibet railway, one must travel via

Golmud Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan ...

and

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

to make this journey by rail. The line is a serious engineering challenge, and serves the purpose of integrating local communities, as well as the interior and coastal regions of China. The railway is also expected to have major positive impact on tourism in the western parts of the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sichuan-Tibet Railway Railway lines in China Mountain railways Rail transport in Tibet Standard gauge railways in China