Friday, December 21, 2007

Chinese Mandarin - Qinghai-Tibet railway to be extended to Xigaze

BIZCHINA / Biz News

Qinghai-Tibet railway to be extended to Xigaze
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-14 17:21

The eye-catching Qinghai-Tibet railway, which will begin its trial runs
this July, is expected to be further extended from Lhasa, capital of
Tibet Autonomous Region, to Xigaze City in the southwestern part of the
region, according to Tibetan chairman Qingba Puncog.

The projected section between Lhasa and Xigaze is expected to be
completed in the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic
and Social Development (2006-2010), Puncog said Saturday in an exclusive
interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the annual session of the Tenth
National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body.

The 1,142-kilometer-long Qinghai-Tibet railway, which runs across the
frozen tundras of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and links Golmud of Qinghai
with Lhasa, is the first railway connecting Tibet with other parts of
China.

"The world's highest railroad is expected to help further boost economic
development in Tibet and bring more benefits to local people," Puncog
said.

Upon completion, the line will link Tibet to China's extensive rail
network, with the journey from Beijing to Lhasa - in pressurized
aircraft-like carriages - taking 48 hours. Noting that protection of the
ecological environment was an essential concern in the design of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Puncog said the routes were selected so that they
would keep away from the major habitats of wild animals.

As for the so-called "ecological disaster" that some foreign media
reports have played up, Puncog stressed that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
has never caused and will never cause any side effects on the ecological
environment.

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