Construction on the 3,345-meter Yangbajain No.1 tunnel on the
Qinghai-Tibet railway was completed Sunday in the Tibet
Autonomous Region in southwest China.
The tunnel is 4,264 meters above sea level, located 80
kilometers away from the regional capital Lhasa.
It is the longest tunnel built in areas with an elevation of
over 4,000 meters in China,
Completion of the Yangbajain tunnel marks the completion of all
the seven tunnels on the Qinghai-Tibet railway.
The 1,118-kilometer Qinghai-Tibet railway will extend from
Golmud City in Qinghai
Province in northwest China to Lhasa in Tibet. It will be the
longest and highest railway in the world.
More than 960 kilometers, or over four-fifths of the railway,
will be built at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, and over
half of it will be laid on frozen earth.
According to the Headquarters of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Construction, by Oct. 11, a total of 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.49
billion) had been used in track laying on the rail route.
Construction on the railway began in June, 2001.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2003)