Beijing-Lhasa train on final leg
2006-07-03 11:06
Beijing - China's first train from Beijing to Tibet began the final leg of its journey on Monday on the world's highest railway, climbing to elevations so lofty that pens and packaged foods aboard burst in thin air.
Some passengers began breathing piped-in oxygen from tubes to cope with the altitude as the train climbed past 4 000 metres above sea level on the Tibetan plateau.
Tibetan antelope and wild donkeys grazed beneath stunning vistas of snow-capped mountains and deep-blue skies as the train rolled through the treeless, sparsely populated region.
The $4.2bn railway is part of efforts to develop China's poor, restive west and bind it more closely to the country's booming east.
Protests
Chinese leaders hope greater prosperity will help to still calls by Tibetans and other ethnic minorities for autonomy from the communist Beijing government.
The line has prompted protests by activists who say it will bring an influx of Chinese migrants to the isolated Himalayan region, threatening its ecology and diluting its unique Buddhist culture.
Trains completed shorter journeys on the line between Lhasa and Golmud while passengers on the 16-car train from the Chinese capital were in the midst of their journey.
Awakening 'a sleeping wasteland'
State media gave heavy coverage to the railway, with newspapers publishing front-page photos of passengers singing and villagers waving to the passing train. The state television midday news showed President Hu Jintao congratulating workers who built the line.
On Monday, recorded announcements over the train loudspeakers in Mandarin and English described the building of the railway, which they said "awakened a sleeping wasteland".
The announcements pointed out scenic spots, high passes, long tunnels and rare antelopes.
"Let the lovely antelope enjoy their leisure life," the recording said. "And never invade their territory."
Traditional herders, yaks
The only signs of human habitation in the arid highlands south of Golmud were traditional herders tending yaks and small train stations that dot the rail line.
After the train crossed the 4 000-metre threshold, many products not intended for use at that altitude - such as ballpoint pens and bags of processed food - burst due to the changes in air pressure.
China's government says it is spending 1.5 billion yuan ($190m) on environmental protection along the Golmud-Lhasa stretch of the railway.
But despite promises to minimise pollution, the sides of the line were littered with plastic bags, bottles and cardboard boxes. Large sections of the permanently frozen earth were grassless, puddled and scarred by vehicle tracks.
Damaged permafrost
Damaged permafrost "becomes dark, ugly, muddy water," said Daniel Wong, an engineer based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen who worked on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, also laid over permafrost.
"The most unfortunate thing is that such damage will spread," he said.
Doubling tourist revenues
The railway is projected to help double tourism revenues in Tibet by 2010 and cut transport costs for goods by 75%. Until now, goods going to and from Tibet have been trucked over mountain highways that are often blocked by landslides or snow, making trade prohibitively expensive.
New York-based Students for a Free Tibet set up a website, rejecttherailway.com, urging the public to wear black armbands in protest of the project, which the group says "is a tool Beijing will use to overwhelm (the) Tibetan population".
'China's illegitimate rule in Tibet'
"We reject the railway just as we reject China's illegitimate rule in Tibet," the site said.
Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950, and Beijing says the region has been Chinese territory for centuries. But Tibet was effectively independent for much of that time.
The rail line is a decades-old dream for Chinese officials. But work began in earnest only in 2001, after engineers worked out how to stabilise tracks on permafrost.
The highest station is in Nagqu, a town at 4 500 metres in the plateau's rolling grasslands. China says this stretch of rail line is the world's highest.
- AP