中文
Home
CAE in Media
Detail
Sichuan-Tibet railway to be completed in 2025
The whole project will cost about 216 billion yuan, while the train will travel
at 200 km/h
The most difficult part of the Sichuan-Tibet railway, the
Kangding-Nyingchi section, will begin construction in 2018, according to the
National Development and Reform Commission.
As the second railway
connecting Tibet with the rest of the country, the project is expected to be
completed in 2025, five years earlier than planned.
The 1,838-km track
starts in Chengdu, Sichuan province, the lowlands of China's southwestern
region, and will pass through Sichuan province's Ya'an and Kangding, and Tibet's
Nyingchi and Lhasa.
The new line will reduce the travel time from Chengdu
to Lhasa to about 13 hours. It takes up to three days to drive from Chengdu to
Lhasa. The other railway connecting Tibet, the Qinghai-Tibet railway, takes 21
hours from Qinghai to Lhasa.
Construction of the east and west sections
began in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The whole project will cost about
216 billion yuan ($32 billion). The highest speed the train will reach will be
200 km/h.
Sun Yongfu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering, said that the new line will travel through the most complicated
geographical area in the world.
"It will cross many fault zones," Sun
said, adding that geological difficulties, including landslides, earthquakes and
avalanches, will be overcome in the project.
Perched at more than 3,000
meters above sea level, and with more than 74 percent of its length running on
bridges or in tunnels, the railway will meander through the mountains, the
highest of which is over 7,000 meters.
It will also cross the Minjiang,
Jinshajiang and Yarlung Zangbo rivers, said Lin Shijin, a senior civil engineer
at China Railway Corp.
The southeast is the most populous region in
Tibet, and the west of Sichuan is the least developed region of the province.
The two regions are filled with breathtaking natural views and fascinating
ethnic cultures.
"The railway will effectively boost tourism, bring a new
Shangri-La to the world and tangible revenue to local people," said He Ping, a
tourism agency manager in Chengdu.
Li Yang contributed to this story.