From the outside it looks like any other passenger train in
China.
It's painted that standard green, has 16 carriages, one driver
and two backup drivers.
However this train is far from run-of-the-mill. The interior is
more impressive, but it's the route that makes it stand out.
The train will run up to 120 kilometers per hour on the Roof of
the World.
Official service on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Golmud, the second-largest
city in northwest China's Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital of
the Tibet Autonomous Region starts on July 1.
But trial runs, such as one earlier this month, are necessary to
make sure everything goes smoothly.
Of the new 1,110-kilometer stretch of track, 86 percent is at
least 4,000 meters above sea level.
At its apex, the route winds through the towering Tanggula
Mountain Pass, which at 5,072 meters makes the new line the highest
railway in the world 255 meters higher than the previous
record-holder, a route running through the Peruvian Andes.
So, the first rail link between Tibet and the rest of China is
also a matter of national pride.
Because of the thinness of the air on the route and the
potential for altitude sickness, officials have taken extra
precautions to help passengers enjoy the ride and keep health
concerns to a minimum.
Early reports had speculated that trains would need to be
pressurized like aircraft, since air at 4,000 to 5,000 meters
usually contains around half as much oxygen as air at sea
level.
But that was impossible, officials reasoned not only will the
train pick up and drop off passengers at stations along the route,
but the conductor will organize time for passengers to disembark
for a better view of the scenery and wildlife.
Among the precautions, each carriage has an oxygen-generating
cabinet. The oxygen is fed into two systems. One is like central
air conditioning, ventilating each cabin. The other is an
"emergency oxygen supply" system, with each passenger having access
to a special socket, whether near the windows, under the seat or at
the bedside.
It is the system's constant hum that reassures passengers the
air is still OK.
Perhaps even more comforting is the news that at least one
doctor will travel on each train when regular service starts, said
Zhao Shiyun, chief engineer of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Construction Headquarters in Xining, Qinghai's capital.
For the passengers' sake
One of the first things passengers boarding the train will
notice is the accommodation made to Tibetan language and culture.
Although the number of attendants on board seemed not to have
surpassed that on normal trains, each of them had attended training
sessions on Tibetan language and ethnic traditions and, for the
sake of foreigners who will certainly take this trip, crash courses
in English, as well, said Jiang Xiaodan, one of the dining car
attendants.
Even the attendants each had to pass a physical exam to be
selected for this route. "Before I was selected to come here, I
worked on a Beijing-Guangzhou train," Jiang said. "The checkups
measured the respiratory system, and some of them failed, but I
didn't. I really enjoy working here on the plateau."
The carriages themselves seem more spacious than those in other
Chinese trains, and for good reason: Made by a Sino-Canadian joint
venture, Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation Ltd (BSP), each
carriage offers hard seats contains only 98 of them, compared with
108 in a standard hard-seat carriage.
Signs and high-tech screens display weather and altitude
information as well as the names of upcoming stations in Tibetan,
Chinese and English.
All the sliding doors were decorated with traditional Tibetan
designs.
And passenger comfort is one of the goals of the train's
designers. The conductor, whose surname is Zhang, said: "The soft
seats are exactly the same as those on a plane easy to adjust to
avoid sore backs and necks. And the windows are larger, and the
glass is treated to screen out ultraviolet rays."
The soft sleepers feature various gadgets including a VCD
player, a TV and an attendant call system.
Passengers can also recharge their mobile phones or notebook
computers using available power sockets.
For the environmentally conscious, the train has vacuum toilets
and sewage collecting tanks and solid waste compressors that use
ultraviolet rays to disinfect features lacking on most other
Chinese trains, though a new regulation has attempted to improve
that situation. There is a bathroom for the disabled.
A safe but green railway
Ever since the railway's construction began from June 2001,
conservationists have raised concerns about the fragility of the
region's ecology and wildlife.
At least 100 volunteers drafted by the Hol Xil (Kekexili)
National Nature Reserve Management Bureau in Qinghai had
disseminated environmental and wildlife protection information
among construction workers since 2002, according to Yang Zhen, a
Beijing resident who had volunteered on the plateau five times.
These volunteers sometimes helped collect the everyday rubbish
and made sure builders did not pitch their makeshift tents just
anywhere on the grassland.
Environmental protection was listed as a top priority for
railway contractors since the beginning, and adherence to the rules
was sometimes difficult.
Dai Lixu, an official with the China Railway Wuju Group Corp,
which was contracted to build a 34-kilometer section of track
between Damshung and Wumatang, east of Lhasa, said workers had been
required to replant any and all vegetation that was destroyed
during construction.
Contractors also have to be conscious of where wild animals,
such as the Tibetan antelope, might migrate, with the hope that
construction will not interfere. Bridges rather than causeways were
built when the railway traversed wetlands.
Some experts say that once the railway operates regularly, the
number of lorries will be lower on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, which
was built half a century ago to transport nearly 85 percent of the
goods that go to Tibet.
Three-fourths of the 2.8 million tons of cargo expected to be
transported annually to and from Tibet by 2010 would be carried by
trains rather than by trucks, the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences said in a research report earlier this year.
That means vehicle exhaust on the world's roof is expected to be
reduced.
Time to eat
As it takes about 12 hours to make the trip from Golmud to
Lhasa, passengers will generally take more than one meal aboard the
train. Railway officials even planned to make eating
pleasurable.
The dining car seats 44 people at a time and has six chefs or
assistant chefs all male and six servers all female. The car also
has a mini-bar, but attendants recommend avoiding alcohol at such
high altitudes.
The menu offers both Tibetan and Chinese dishes with fish and
meats along with vegetables and rice. Some of it is pre-cooked and
reheated when the customer orders it.
The waiting for the food allows passengers a chance to relax and
enjoy the scenery through the carriage's large windows, which makes
for a sumptuous appetizer: Yaks dotted the mountains, wild donkeys
ran alongside the train, and lakes glistened like pearls in
sunlight.
One meal also allowed diners to witness a full view of weather
changes along the way: At one moment, it is balmy spring, with
little tufts of red flowers all over; at another moment, it is
biting winter, with snowflakes and even sleet battering the
windows.
Aside from the usual challenge of cooking aboard a train, this
route poses one particular problem for chef Zhou Quanwen. "We have
to use pressure cookers in high-altitude areas," said Zhou, 40.
"Otherwise, you get half-cooked rice."
As for foreign palates, "We won't have Western food right away,"
Zhou said, "but it is certainly something we'll consider in the
future."
Destination: Lhasa
Since construction of the Lhasa Railway Station, the southern
terminus of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, was not completed until June
20, the trial trains ended their voyage at the West Lhasa Station
about 30 kilometers away.
Sitting near the southern bank of the Lhasa River, the Lhasa
Railway Station is almost within walking distance of the famous
Potala Palace.
The two-storey structure is a traditional Tibetan building. It
is either painted red, yellow and white or constructed with
materials that are naturally so colored, according to Zhang Qiang,
a worker with the China Railway Construction Engineering Group,
which is building the station.
"The use of colored cement is one of three things that make this
station special," Zhang said. "Our wood beams in the main waiting
hall are also reinforced with steel, and the VIP waiting rooms use
gold leaf on the ceilings. This is rare among railway stations in
China."
From the square of the railway station, where various building
materials were still strewn, a white bridge crossing the Lhasa
River only 5 kilometers away from downtown Lhasa, looks
eye-catching against the backdrop of the grey mountain slopes.
When the route from Golmud does end at the Lhasa station, the
train will howl out of a tunnel only tens of meters from the grand
bridge, hurl itself onto it and blow its whistle, trumpeting its
arrival at the terminal, safe and sound.
Thus ends the train ride, and yet although they've reached their
destination, the passengers find instead that it is just the
beginning of a trek to a mysterious land.
(China Daily June 23, 2006)