Four plans were initially proposed when China decided to build a
railway to Tibet. They were lines from west China's Qinghai
Province, northwest Gansu Province and southwest Sichuan and Yunnan
provinces. And why was the Qinghai-Tibet Railway finally given the
thumbs up by the State Council on February 8, 2001?
Li Jincheng, chief designer of construction on the Qinghai-Tibet
line says the route is superior to the others. ?
Firstly, the Qinghai-Tibet link is the shortest. Compared with
the 1,960-kilometer-long Yunnan-Tibet line, the
2,211-kilometer-long Gansu-Tibet link or the 2,015-kilometer-long
Sichuan-Tibet route, the Qinghai-Tibet line from Golmud to Lhasa is
the shortest at 1,110 kilometers. ?
Additionally, the first 845 kilometers of the railway in Qinghai
Province had been completed early in 1979. The completion and
operation of this section provided valuable experience of
construction for extending the line. ?
And the costs of the Qinghai-Tibet link are less than the other
options.
According to the general price index in 1995, the cost of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway was calculated at less than 20 billion yuan.
The price of a Yunnan-Tibet railway was 65.4 billion yuan. The
Gansu-Tibet railway was priced at 64 billion yuan and Sichuan-Tibet
route was estimated at 76.8 billion yuan.
With the connection of the Qinghai-Tibet link, it is 3,952
kilometers from Lhasa to Beijing and 4,326 kilometers from Lhasa to
Shanghai. It's therefore the most convenient line linking Tibet
with inland cities and coastal areas.
Another factor is that preparatory work had been undertaken for
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway since late 1950s.
With sound geological conditions the actual construction work
along this particular route is less than what would be involved
with the others. And experts have mastered how to deal with frozen
ground conditions for railway construction projects at altitude.
?
The terrain covered by the railway is relatively flat and in
parts runs alongside the Qinghai-Tibet Road. This meant heavy
machinery could be moved around and operated easily.
And the time required to construct the Qinghai-Tibet link is the
shortest. Experts predicted that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway required
six years to be built. However, it was estimated that the
Gansu-Tibet and Yunnan-Tibet routes would have taken 32 years to
finish and the Sichuan-Tibet line 38 years.
Various geographical difficulties such as landslides and
mud-rock flows often occur on the other three options and will
seldom happen on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Trains will be able to
run all year round.
(China.org.cn June?25, 2006)