GOLMUD: The new Qinghai-Tibet Railway line the highest on earth will endure the harsh conditions along the "Roof of the World" thanks to new technology and constant monitoring.

Chinese workers install the sign on the roof of Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 20, 2006. The Chinese characters say "Lhasa." It was the largest railway station alongside Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1.[Xinhua]

Vice-Minister of Railways Sun Yongfu said: "It is a railway we've made a whole lot of innovations and breakthroughs with. No other country could build a railway on as high permafrost as this."

With most of the new 1,110-kilometre track being laid at altitudes above 4,000 metres, the line crosses 550 kilometres of permafrost.

Based on preparatory work carried out over the past four decades, Chinese engineers have used stone slabs to build embankments that cool without breaking up, and thrust steel tubes into the ground along some parts of the route, to transmit heat from beneath the icy surface.

"We built bridges rather than causeways on extremely unstable permafrost regions," Sun told China Daily.

"Construction on the permafrost regions appears to be of excellent quality. During our trial runs this month, trains have been rattling by at up to 100 kilometres an hour, much faster than trains on railways in permafrost regions in other countries, which can only travel at up to 70 kilometres an hour."

Despite the current stability of the recently completed track, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp, the railway's sole operator, will have to work to ensure the line endures standing on the permafrost in the long term, he said.

A long-term permafrost monitoring system has been installed to check for changes in ground temperature and any deformities in the rail bed, according to Zhang Luxin, a senior expert with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Contingency measures have also been put in place to protect the track from the worst hazard affecting the plateau global warming, said Sun.

"We have taken account of the impact of global warming, but if the temperature rises too much, extra solutions will have to be found," he conceded.

Sun also said his ministry would spare no effort in addressing the railway's environmental repercussions.

The ministry is determined to prove that the new line is "harmonious with the ecology." For one thing, no waste will be discharged along the road from the trains, according to Sun.

Lakes, plants and desertification along the route will be monitored, as will animal populations, he said.

Asked about the hazard of natural disasters such as earthquakes, which are frequent on the plateau, Sun said the route had been designed to avoid regions with active seismic activity.

In the vulnerable regions that the track has to pass through, constructors used rail beds rather than tunnels and bridges, and retrofitted structures to minimize the effects of any possible tremors, he said.

Sun said that from February, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp has been deploying staff along the new route. The company has employed 450 people for station and train services.

An additional 1,000 work on telecommunications and power supply on the railway, he said.

"All the workers have undergone medical check-ups to make sure they can react and adapt to high altitude conditions and effective measures have been taken to improve working and living conditions on the plateau," said Sun.

Monument

Sun, 65, who has directed the construction of a dozen railways since 1962, said the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was the one that impressed him most.

He said he was proud no workers died of altitude sickness during construction, a testimony to the ministry's precaution measures.

Sun revealed that the ministry is considering building a commemorative structure on the Tanggula Mountain Pass, bearing the inscription: "Altitude 5,072, the world's highest railway."

Lofty ambitions for highest railway

GOLMUD: The Qinghai-Tibet railway, scheduled for operation on July 1, may not roll out profits immediately but it is sure to bring benefits to local regions.

"Strategically important to Tibet's development, this railway is an infrastructure project for public welfare rather than for commercial purposes," Sun Yongfu, Vice-Minister of Railways, told China Daily.

"In initial years, it will have to strive to cut losses and to make ends meet."

Sun is also the deputy chief of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction Leading Group under the State Council.

The railway, the first to connect the inland Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China, is an "all-weather powerful route" to facilitate economic and social development of northwestern regions, he said.

But to ensure it runs on permafrost safely and without detriment to the fragile plateau environment, the government needs to continue offering policy and financial support in the years ahead, the vice-minister said.

The official was on an inspection tour in Golmud, the second largest city in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, as workers put the final touches on a railway that stretches 1,110 kilometres from the city's Nanshankou station to Lhasa. Construction started in June 2001.

The railway joins an 814-kilometre-long track that links Golmud to Xining, provincial capital of Qinghai, which opened in 1984. Together with a 32-kilometre-long line that stretches from Golmud to Nanshankou station, they form the 1,956-kilometre Qinghai-Tibet Railway that traverses the "roof of the world."

The budget has been well controlled due to public tendering, rational construction schemes, strengthened contract management and investment monitoring. Total investment amounted to 33.09 billion yuan (US$4.09 billion), or nearly 30 million yuan (US$3.7 million) for each kilometre, according to Sun.

"You can't expect tremendous volumes of freight to be ferried along the line in the first few years, given economic growth may take time due to the geography and history of Tibet," the vice-minister said.

Tourism prospects on the other hand are rosy.

"The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, although bleak and oxygen-starved, is a mysterious magnet for many travellers," he said.

But as the central authorities have decided that the railway is a public welfare infrastructure to buttress and balance regional growth, hard coach tickets for passenger trains bound for Lhasa are priced at the same rate as those running elsewhere in China, while sleeping-carriage tickets are specially priced at low levels.

However, operational costs on the plateau are much higher, Sun said.

For one thing, the thinness of the air could cut power by almost half at elevations above 4,000 metres, meaning trains will have to consume more fuel to maintain a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour in non-permafrost regions, sources from the Ministry of Railways said.

Other operation costs include spending on routine railway maintenance, further research on permafrost, environmental conservation and prevention of natural disasters, Sun said.

Freight fees, which may vary according to different categories, will average 0.12 yuan (US$1.5 cents) per ton/kilometre, compared with at least 0.4 yuan (US$5 cents) on the Qinghai-Tibet highway, which was built half a century ago and currently conveys nearly 85 per cent of cargoes to Tibet, according to Sun.

"For these reasons and to cover operation costs, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp will need special policies from the State, such as tax breaks or exemptions," Sun said.

The official said he believed the railway will substantially resolve one of the biggest bottlenecks affecting the sustainable development of Tibet.

It will help raise the competitiveness of Tibetan products by driving down transport costs, and in the same way, elevate the local people's living standards by securing affordable in-bound consumer goods.

Cement prices in Tibet, for example, range from 700 yuan (US$86) to 900 yuan (US$111) a ton, compared with an average of 300 yuan (US$37) elsewhere in China. The price will plummet to national level if the cement is transported via railway instead of highway, he said.

Earlier operation

When it starts in a few days, the world's highest railway will have been put into operation one year ahead of schedule, evidence that railroad authorities have confidence in the quality control of the whole line.

In addition to addressing the nettlesome permafrost problems, another factor contributing to earlier completion is that construction was launched from both directions towards Tanggula Mountain Pass and Lhasa, from Amdo Railway Station in Tibet in 2004, according to Sun.

(China Daily 06/26/2006 page1)