Beijing opens world’s highest rail line: Tibet linked to rest of China
GOLMUD (China), July 1: China opened the world’s highest railway on Saturday, linking the remote Himalayan region of Tibet with the rest of the country in a symbol of power that President Hu Jintao hailed a ‘miracle’.
Mr Hu launched the rail line at the mountain outpost of Golmud in China’s far north-western Qinghai province, with the event held to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
“The project is not only a magnificent feat in China’s history of railway construction, it is also a great miracle for the world,” Mr Hu said, as hundreds of railway workers and government officials applauded.
He then cut a ceremonial red ribbon as the first train with 900 passengers on board departed for the 1,142-km trip to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Another train departed Lhasa for Golmud moments later amid carefully choreographed dancing at the station by Tibetan and Han Chinese in traditional costumes, with all the events broadcast on state-run television.
The trains, with extra oxygen pumped into the Canadian-built cabins to prevent passengers from suffering altitude sickness, will traverse a mountain pass sitting 5,072 metres above sea level as they follow the Tibetan plateau.
It will cover hundreds of kilometres of permanently frozen ground, with state-of-the-art cooling methods used to ensure the rail line remains stable.
At a cost of $4.2 billion, Mr Hu said the train was an important part of China’s historic efforts to modernise the country and further confirmation that the fast-developing nation was indisputably one of the world’s great powers.
“This success again shows the hard working and wise people of China have the courage, confidence and ability to continue to create miracles,” Mr Hu said.
“We also have the courage, confidence and ability to stand among the advanced peoples of the world.”
Aside from coinciding with the 85th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, the launch of the train line followed the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in May and a second manned Chinese space flight in October last year.
However the train project has drawn enormous controversy from those opposed to China’s rule of Tibet, which began in 1950 when officially atheist Chinese troops marched in to ‘liberate’ the devoutly Buddhist people of the region.
Previously Han Chinese could only get to Tibet on slow, uncomfortable bus rides or on relatively expensive flights. Now, people can travel for 48 hours from Beijing to Lhasa on a train for under 50 dollars.
PROTEST IN INDIA: Hundreds of Tibetan exiles and supporters rallied on Saturday in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala against the opening of the railway.
“Though China claims the railroad will bring economic prosperity to Tibet, we know ... it is a political project,” B. Tsering Yeshi, president of the Tibetan Women’s Association, told the rally.
“The railway will further marginalise Tibetans,” she added, as Tibetan shopkeepers and restaurants in the area closed in protest.
Saffron-robed Buddhist monks, nuns, Tibetans and their supporters marched through Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama’s exiled government has been based since the spiritual leader sought refuge following a failed 1959 uprising.
“Reject the railway,” chanted the demonstrators who wore black armbands to symbolise a nation in mourning.—AFP
GOLMUD (China), July 1: China opened the world’s highest railway on Saturday, linking the remote Himalayan region of Tibet with the rest of the country in a symbol of power that President Hu Jintao hailed a ‘miracle’.
