Mar
26
Beijing-Tibet Train from Heaven and Hell
March 26, 2008 | | 1 Comment
by Carol Zhou Yan (7)
China on Wednesday allowed the first group of foreign journalists into the regional capital Lhasa to visit since the violence.
It was unclear how much freedom to report the small group of foreign journalists. The visit comes amid rising international pressure over China’s crackdown in Tibet less than five months ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
It reminded me that my interview trip in Tibet railway.
As a matter of fact, nearly two years after the world’s highest railroad was completed at a cost of $1.4 billion, the International Campaign for Tibet said it was accelerating an influx of Han Chinese into the region and threatening its fragile high-altitude environment. I agree.
Connects Lhasa to existing China rail network
1) New 1,140km stretch cost $1.4bn
2) World’s highest railway, reaching 5,072m
3) Oxygen to be pumped into each carriage
4) Restaurant car’s rice cooked in pressure cookers, to mitigate effects of high altitude
5) Beijing to Lhasa to take 48 hours, cost $50-$160 one way
6) “At its highest point, the railway will reach 5,072m (16,640ft) – beating by 225m a route through the Peruvian Andes that was previously the world’s highest railway”, the China Daily newspaper reports.
7) In parts, the train line has been built on bridges elevated above the most unstable permafrost.
Cooling pipes have been sunk into the ground to ensure it remains frozen to stabilise the tracks.
9) The train carriages have windows with ultra-violet filters to keep out the sun’s glare, as well as carefully regulated oxygen levels with spare supplies to combat the thin air.
Environmental Impacts
Rail-induced migration and development pressures from activities such as mining, which will be made more cost-effective, will become a source of major environmental damage. Existing population nodes will grow, and the spatial pattern and type of human activity could spread to previously unsettled areas. In either case, environmental conditions could be affected far from the main line, even across international borders, causing pollution of air and water, habitat and biodiversity loss, and land degradation.
Environmental risks arise from the susceptibility of Tibet’s high altitude ecosystems. Aside from the warmer Southeast, where deforestation is blamed on the Yangtze Rivers’ catastrophic flooding in 1998, much of the Plateau is characterized by low levels of precipitation and cool climate. Historically, the land provided the Tibetan people with natural abundance, but government introduced population and development pressures are already straining Tibet’s fragile landscape. A 1998 World Bank Report said that in Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau, “increasing cultivation and grazing pressures in mountainous areas are having devastating ecological impacts and there appear to be limited and possibly even no environmentally sustainable options available in those areas.”
There’s an interesting article on USATODAY. “This is a magnificent feat by the Chinese people, and also a miracle in world railway history,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said at an inaugural ceremony. He said the train showed China’s people were “ambitious, self-confident and capable of standing among the world’s advanced nations.” The author argued that “ Tibetans should make the decision by themselves not the government.”
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Carol, great to hear from someone who has actually been on the train. I was wondering, given the harsh terrain in Tibet, will the train actually induce more migration ( except perhaps to Lhasa?). I can see the adverse impact if the train line encourages more mining.