CHINA / National
A high-altitude journey ends in China
(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-04 08:43
China's new train from Beijing to Tibet arrived in the ancient capital of
Lhasa Monday, ending its maiden journey after climbing to elevations so
high that ballpoint pens and packaged foods burst.
Some passengers breathed oxygen from tubes - many just out of curiosity -
as the pressurized train crossed a 16,640-foot pass in Tibet's Tanggula
Mountains, a height the Chinese government says makes the $4.2 billion
railway the world's highest.
A passenger wears an oxygen tube on board the first Beijing-to-Lhasa
train as it cruises along the Qinghai-Tibet railway July 3, 2006. Many
passengers were affected by high-altitude problem as the train passed
over 4,500 metres. [Reuters]
Girls in track suits and traditional Tibetan robes draped white scarves,
a customary greeting, on passengers arriving in Lhasa's new railway
station.
Tibetan antelope and wild donkeys grazed beneath stunning vistas of
snowcapped mountains and deep-blue skies as the train rolled through the
treeless, sparsely populated area.
China's government says it is spending $190 million on environmental
protection along the Golmud-Lhasa stretch of the railway.
Trains completed shorter trips on the line between Lhasa and Golmud in
Qinghai province while passengers on the 16-car train from the Chinese
capital were in the midst of their journey.
Before the last leg of the trip to Lhasa, the train stopped in Golmud
early Monday to switch its standard engine for three powerful locomotives
required to haul the train at high altitude.
The only signs of human habitation in the arid highlands south of Golmud
were occasional small train stations and herders tending yaks.
After the train climbed above 13,000 feet, pens and bags of processed
food burst due to the low air pressure. Laptop computers and digital
music players failed, because moving parts in their disk drives are
cushioned by tiny air bags that break at high altitude.
The railway is projected to help double tourism revenues in Tibet by 2010
and cut transport costs for goods by 75 percent. 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.
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