Surveyors have almost completed a location survey for a branch
line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway that will extend from Tibetan
capital Lhasa to Xigaze.
The First Survey and Design Institute of China Railway (FSDI),
based in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has
started the design work for the extension line to Xigaze, a major
Tibetan city some 280 km to the southwest of Lhasa, sources with
the FSDI said.
Construction is expected to begin this year on the 253-km new
line with a design speed of at least 120 km per hour, the source
said.
Upon completion, the first feeder line for the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway will be able to carry seven million tons of cargo a year,
and eventually ten million, he said.
The new line is expected to go into operation into 2010.
FSDI started a feasibility study for the Lhasa-Xigaze line in
February 2002, which was approved by the Ministry of Railways in
May last year. The institute began an initial survey in October
last year and then a location survey on Dec. 5.
Located in the southwest of Tibet Autonomous Region and
bordering Nepal, Bhutan and India, Xigaze is the hometown of the
11th Panchen Lama -- Gyaincain Norbu, the 18-year-old leader of
Tibetan Buddhism.
Tibet ended its history without a railway in July 2006 with the
operation of the 1,956-km Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The railway has
prompted a huge surge in the number of tourists to Tibet, bringing
the region billions of yuan in tourism revenue.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)