Type Heavy rail Number of tracks 2 Locale Tibet | Line length 253 km (157 mi) Operating speed | |
Opened 16 August 2014 (2014-08-16) Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ⁄2 in) standard gauge Terminis Xigazê Railway Station, Lhasa Railway Station | ||
The Lhasa–Xigazê Railway, or Lari Railway (simplified Chinese: 拉日铁路; traditional Chinese: 拉日鐵路; pinyin: Lārì Tiělù; Standard Tibetan: lha gzhis lcags lam ལྷ་གཞིས་ལྕགས་ལམ་), is a high-elevation railway that connects Lhasa to Xigazê, in Tibet AR.
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Overview
The length of the railway is 253 km (157 mi). The construction started in September 2010 and was completed in July 2014. The line was formally opened in August 2014 The line includes 14 stations, of which four have been completed so far. The project had a budget of 13.3 billion yuan.
The completion of this project opened up possible extensions of the network further west and south into Nepal and to Yadong County, close to the border with Sikkim, India. The exiled Central Tibetan administration in Dharamsala has claimed that the rail line will dilute the unique cultural identity of Tibetans by accelerating mass movement of Chinese migrants into Tibet.