hummalumma
07-01-2006, 12:45 PM
China's Tibet railway begins service
Jul. 1, 2006. 07:49 AM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — China opened the first train service to Tibet across the world's highest railway today, a controversial engineering feat meant to bind the restive Himalayan region to China.
The first train bound for the Tibetan capital Lhasa pulled out of the western Chinese city Golmud after a nationally televised ceremony led by China's President Hu Jintao and attended by thousands of workers who helped to build the line.
"This is a magnificent feat by the Chinese people and also a miracle in world railway history," Hu said.
He said it shows China's people are "ambitious, self-confident and capable of standing among the world's advanced nations."
Musicians in traditional Tibetan and Chinese costumes banged drums and cymbals and Hu used golden scissors to cut a giant red ribbon as the first train pulled out of the Golmud station.
Minutes later, Chinese television showed a second train pulling out of Lhasa travelling toward Golmud. A third train was due to leave Beijing for the Tibetan capital later in the day.
The 1,140-kilometre line crosses mountain passes up to 5,000 metres high and large stretches of ground that is frozen year-round.
The train cars, manufactured by Canada's Bombardier Inc., are fitted with double-paned windows with ultraviolet filters to protect passengers from the sun's glare and have carefully regulated oxygen levels in all classes of travel.
The train, worth the equivalent of $4.7 billion Cdn, is part of the Chinese government's efforts to develop poor, restive areas in the west and bind them more closely to the country's booming east.
Activists complain the railway will bring an influx of Chinese migrants, damaging Tibet's fragile ecology and diluting its unique Buddhist society. They said most of its economic benefits will go to migrants from the east.
On Friday, three women from the United States, Canada and Britain were detained after unfurling a banner at Beijing's main train station reading: China's Tibet Railway, Designed to Destroy.
Others planned to protest today outside Chinese embassies abroad.
Chinese officials acknowledge few Tibetans are employed by the railway, though they said that number should increase. The government also said it is taking precautions to protect the environment.
The railway is projected to help double tourism revenues in Tibet by 2010 and reduce transport costs for goods by 75 per cent, China's Xinhua News Agency said.
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.
Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and Beijing said the region has been Chinese territory for centuries. But Tibet was effectively independent for much of that time.
Chinese officials have wanted to build a railway to Tibet for decades but were put off by the engineering challenges.
The project was launched in earnest in 2001 after engineers decided they could deal with the high altitude and temperature extremes of the Tibetan plateau. In some places, crews building the line worked at such high altitudes they were forced to breathe bottled oxygen.
The railway's highest station will be in Nagqu, a town at 4,500 metres in the rolling grasslands of the Tibetan plateau.
Xinhua said the highest point on the line is 5,072 metres, which the government said is a world record.
Jul. 1, 2006. 07:49 AM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — China opened the first train service to Tibet across the world's highest railway today, a controversial engineering feat meant to bind the restive Himalayan region to China.
The first train bound for the Tibetan capital Lhasa pulled out of the western Chinese city Golmud after a nationally televised ceremony led by China's President Hu Jintao and attended by thousands of workers who helped to build the line.
"This is a magnificent feat by the Chinese people and also a miracle in world railway history," Hu said.
He said it shows China's people are "ambitious, self-confident and capable of standing among the world's advanced nations."
Musicians in traditional Tibetan and Chinese costumes banged drums and cymbals and Hu used golden scissors to cut a giant red ribbon as the first train pulled out of the Golmud station.
Minutes later, Chinese television showed a second train pulling out of Lhasa travelling toward Golmud. A third train was due to leave Beijing for the Tibetan capital later in the day.
The 1,140-kilometre line crosses mountain passes up to 5,000 metres high and large stretches of ground that is frozen year-round.
The train cars, manufactured by Canada's Bombardier Inc., are fitted with double-paned windows with ultraviolet filters to protect passengers from the sun's glare and have carefully regulated oxygen levels in all classes of travel.
The train, worth the equivalent of $4.7 billion Cdn, is part of the Chinese government's efforts to develop poor, restive areas in the west and bind them more closely to the country's booming east.
Activists complain the railway will bring an influx of Chinese migrants, damaging Tibet's fragile ecology and diluting its unique Buddhist society. They said most of its economic benefits will go to migrants from the east.
On Friday, three women from the United States, Canada and Britain were detained after unfurling a banner at Beijing's main train station reading: China's Tibet Railway, Designed to Destroy.
Others planned to protest today outside Chinese embassies abroad.
Chinese officials acknowledge few Tibetans are employed by the railway, though they said that number should increase. The government also said it is taking precautions to protect the environment.
The railway is projected to help double tourism revenues in Tibet by 2010 and reduce transport costs for goods by 75 per cent, China's Xinhua News Agency said.
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.
Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and Beijing said the region has been Chinese territory for centuries. But Tibet was effectively independent for much of that time.
Chinese officials have wanted to build a railway to Tibet for decades but were put off by the engineering challenges.
The project was launched in earnest in 2001 after engineers decided they could deal with the high altitude and temperature extremes of the Tibetan plateau. In some places, crews building the line worked at such high altitudes they were forced to breathe bottled oxygen.
The railway's highest station will be in Nagqu, a town at 4,500 metres in the rolling grasslands of the Tibetan plateau.
Xinhua said the highest point on the line is 5,072 metres, which the government said is a world record.