By Friday, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest
railway, had carried 380,500 passengers to Lhasa since entering
service on July 1.
Apart from one incident in which the dining carriage of a train
derailed in a station, no serious traffic accidents, passenger
injuries or deaths occurred in the first three months of operation,
said Sun Yongfu, director of construction for the plateau
railway.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which starts from Xining, capital of
northwest China's Qinghai Province, and ends in Lhasa, capital of
southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, is the first railway
ever to go to Tibet. Before the plateau railway began service,
people reached Tibet only via air or highway.
Some 550 kilometers of the 1,956 km history-making railway are
built on frozen earth.
Close observation results indicate that 95 percent of the
roadbeds built on frozen earth underwent minor changes in the
July-September period when temperatures on the Qinghai-Tibet
Plateau are at their highest, said Sun, who was formerly Vice
Minister of Railways.
According to Sun, the annual sinking rate for the railway's
frozen earth roadbeds will be less than 2 centimeters.
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2006)