Train to the Roof of the World
Just came upon the article in WIRED (July 2006, Issue 14.07) about new high-tech trains connecting Golmud with Lhasa. Great pictures too… It’s not online yet. Give it a few days;) I will be in Tibet but, most likely, I won’t be visiting Lhasa and see it for myself…
Anyone interested in China affairs knows already that Chinese are extremely proud to have accomplish this feat. It was one of the Mao’s big dreams to have it built during his lifetime. Official opening ceremonies are slated for July 1st and I’m sure the government’s propaganda machine will make sure the whole world knows about it. The train link has been hailed as an engineering marvel, even the 8th Wonder of the World. And rightly so. Tracks are passing through elevations between 13,000 and 16,600ft requiring oxygen supplies for passengers, and crossing wide areas of permafrost and otherwise unstable ground, necessitating novel building techniques to prevent rails from sinking and cracking. Builders even came up with ‘cooled nitrogen’ pipes spiked into ground to keep it from overheating and melting permafrost… Amazing!!! But it’ll be interesting to see how the project will hold up over the next few years of use and how expensive upkeep costs will be. There are plenty of misgivers proclaiming that within 5-10 years this rail connection will become un-rideable.
Even though it might prove political & economic success, the future social & cultural consequences of the train link are open to wide discussion, even outright criticism. On side side is the official story of ‘faster’ Tibet development and tighter connection to the ‘Motherland’, on the other the increased influx of Han Chinese into Tibet further marginalizing native Tibetans…
In the mean time, here are some links about the project (take your pick):
- The Railway Across the Roof of the World (YaleGlobal Online)
- By Train on the Roof of the World (Spiegel Online)
- The railway across the roof of the world (Guardian Unlimited)
- Altiplano trains ready to climb onto “Roof of the world” (Xinhua)
And Ed Genochio, a cycling overlander on his way from China back to the UK, passed by the train viaduct too (last picture).
I wonder if Paul Theroux who wrote the great travel classic of the 1980s Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train through China will visit again to get a ride???
