Railways were and are being built everywhere, regardless of the terrain. It is known about the highest and most dangerous highway, about the longest and shortest road.

The most dangerous railway

Many railway lines can be called dangerous, but the most dangerous is the road located in Argentina. Its name is Tren a las Nubes, which translates as “Train to the clouds.” During the journey, the road passes through tunnels, bridges, zigzags, descents and ascents. Tourists traveling along the route, which lasts fifteen hours, experience fear as the carriages literally make their way through the clouds. The train often slows down and slips, which is an additional reason for passengers to worry.

Moving along the banks of the canyons, the train crosses them on steel bridges that seem weightless. It ends its journey at an altitude of four thousand meters. The most famous place on the route is the ancient viaduct, built in 1930. During the trip, the train goes through two zigzag climbs, overcomes twenty-nine bridges, twenty-one tunnels and twelve viaducts, and turns three hundred and sixty degrees several times.


Train passengers are on the verge of hysterics during a trip over one of the deepest canyons in Argentina, the depth of which is seventy meters. The train moves across the rickety bridge for an interminable five minutes.

The shortest railway

This year, the Pope allowed everyone to use their own railway. We are talking about a road connecting the station in Rome with the station in the Vatican. This railway was built back in 1934 in order to deliver the Pontiff from the Vatican to Rome. All these years it was available for use only by the current dad. Now, for forty euros, anyone can use it.


The length of the railway track between stations is only one kilometer, two hundred and seventy meters. It starts behind St. Peter's Basilica and passes several landmarks of the city-state - the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican Gardens, the Sextine Chapel, and numerous museums.

The highest mountain railway

Railroad tracks do not always run across plains. Often their construction is carried out in mountainous areas, over canyons or over the water expanses of the seas. The highest mountain railway is considered to be the one running from the Chinese province of Qinghai to the Autonomous Region of Tibet. Its length is almost two kilometers.


The highest point of this road is at an altitude of five thousand seventy-two meters. Since at this altitude the atmospheric pressure is up to forty percent of normal, trains on this route are equipped with oxygen masks.


Construction took several decades due to many obstacles - high mountain ranges, thin air, permafrost. Thanks to the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet road, remote provinces received a powerful boost to economic development.

The longest railway in the world

The title of the longest railway in the world is given to the Trans-Siberian Railway or Trans-Siberian Railway. For many years this road has remained in first place in terms of length. Its length is nine thousand two hundred eighty-eight kilometers.


The giant highway, passing through the territory of Russia, connects the European part of the continent with the Far East, the Urals, Siberia, and connects ports in the south and west. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was determined by the need for uniform socio-economic development of a huge country.

Construction began in 1891, when the first stone was laid. The end of construction can be considered the year 1904, when a railway connection appeared between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg. Despite the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway, construction work continued for many years, until 1938, when the second track was laid. Not only railways are amazing, but also the trains that run on them. There is a website on the site that mentions underwater, oldest, longest and other interesting trains.
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Sealed carriages, oxygen masks for each passenger, specially designed locomotives, endless overpasses on permafrost and dozens of deserted stations against the backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks - all this is unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in China. Its length is 1956 km, the average height is more than 4 thousand meters above sea level.

It became the highest and longest highland railway in the world.

The highway project was approved in 1960, but construction was frozen for almost 15 years. Only in 1974 did they begin to build the first section of the railway: 814 km were built in five years by the army and prisoners. The grand opening took place on July 1, 2006.

Construction of the second section was particularly challenging. About 80% of this section of the route passed through difficult high mountain areas at an altitude of over 4 thousand meters above sea level.

About 550 km had to pass through the permafrost zone. During the short summer period, the top layer of earth here thaws, turning into an impassable swamp. This could lead to path deformation. Therefore, the designers developed an individual railway layout. The rails were laid on a special embankment of cobblestones covered with sand. Pipes were passed through the embankment for ventilation, and the slopes were covered with metal sheets that protected from sunlight and prevented heating.

Wells with liquid nitrogen were installed in some areas. All this made it possible to freeze the embankment under the road and avoid heating the upper layer of permafrost.

To avoid sudden changes in elevation, a significant part of the highway runs along overpasses. 675 bridges were built along the entire route. The overpass supports are piles that go so deep into the permafrost that seasonal thawing of the top layer does not cause the structure to become unstable.

In addition, the overpasses do not interfere with the free movement of representatives of local fauna under the highway.

The Tibet Railway set several records for railway construction. There are two unique tunnels here.

Fenghuoshan is the highest mountain tunnel in the world. It was built at an altitude of 4.9 thousand meters above sea level. And the Kunlun tunnel is considered the longest in the world, built in high-altitude permafrost.

There are 45 stations along the entire route. Of these, 38 are automatic, that is, without maintenance personnel. Their work is coordinated from the control center of the entire road in Xining, a city district in the Qinghai province of China.

The Tang-La station on the mountain pass of the same name is considered an attraction. It is located at an altitude of 5068 meters and is the highest railway station in the world. It is fully automated. There are no settlements nearby. Despite this, the Chinese built a fairly large station here, worthy of a record-breaking station.

In most cases, the doors of the carriages here do not even open. For an unprepared person to be at such a height where the atmospheric pressure is very low is dangerous to health.

For the unique railway, special trains were developed designed to operate in high mountain conditions.

All cars are hermetically sealed from the environment. Air-conditioned carriages are equipped with a special oxygen pumping system. Despite this, passengers experience attacks of altitude sickness caused by a lack of oxygen. For this purpose, each place is equipped with an individual oxygen mask.

The windows in the cars are tinted and coated with a special compound that protects passengers from excess solar radiation.

The carriages are divided into three classes familiar to us - seated, reserved seat and compartment. The trains have dining cars.

Trains reach speeds of up to 120 km/h, but in permafrost zones their speed is limited to 100 km/h.

The line's capacity is 8 trains per day, not counting freight trains. Now Lhasa is connected by regular passenger traffic not only with the neighboring regional center of Xining, but also with the country's largest cities - Beijing and Shanghai. The journey from Lhasa to Beijing takes 48 hours.

In every journey, the most important thing is to arrange the transfers correctly. Firstly, because this is the lion's share of the cost of the entire tour. Secondly, the success of the trip and the overall impression often depend on where and what you go to Tibet with.

I am engaged in receiving Russian-speaking tourists in Tibet. Due to the nature of my work, I travel a lot, I can, both from my own experience and from the experience of hundreds of tourists who come to Tibet every month, tell all the pros and cons of different routes to the Roof of the World.

In this short essay I will share my experience of traveling to Tibet by train through Xining (Qinghai Province, China).

I’ll say right away that if it weren’t for work, I would never have gone like this myself. But every year there are travelers (it’s hard to say on what basis) who seriously believe that this is a great way to visit Tibet, saying “gradual acclimatization” and so on. By the way, those who drive into Tibet from Nepal think the same way and then suffer from altitude sickness the entire trip.

Objectively, there are two advantages of visiting Tibet on the route Beijing-Xining air, Xining-Lhasa railway:

1. small savings compared to Beijing-Lhasa air,

2. reduction of risks with the purchase of railway tickets compared to the Beijing-Lhasa railway.

What is the difficulty of traveling to Tibet by train?

Railway tickets for trains entering Tibet are always in short supply. Why? There is only one railway route connecting Tibet with the outside world. This is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. All passing trains (Beijing-Lhasa, Shanghai-Lhasa, Guangzhou-Lhasa, Chengdu-Lhasa) gather in Xining. These are trains that run once a day or once every two days. During the tourist season, they are always filled with passengers already at the point of departure. Even at the point of departure, obtaining tickets for these trains becomes a problem if the travel time falls between the end of April and the end of October, as well as on Chinese public holidays. At this time, there are simply no tickets for compartments or reserved seats at the box office, much less on the Internet. All of them are first withdrawn from sale by the state, because this is an important strategic line. Further, through contacts with station managers, tickets partially fall into the hands of professional resellers. And from them, again through connections (since such activity is illegal and punishable), tickets sometimes go to simpler speculators, and then to travel agencies and clients. That is why in China, in addition to the cost of the ticket itself, which is indicated on it, there is also the cost of services for purchasing a ticket. At the height of the tourist season (July, August, September and holidays), the cost of services can be equal to, and sometimes even exceed, the cost of the ticket itself. Therefore, in the summer, groups traveling to Tibet from China are recommended to fly by plane: there are fewer problems, faster, easier acclimatization and not much more expensive than the train, which takes two days to get there.

The second difficulty of traveling to Tibet by train is acclimatization. This applies to all trains to Tibet, since they all pass through Xining and use the same Qinghai-Tibet Railway to enter Lhasa in Tibet. Why is acclimatization worse by train? Because the body begins to feel the altitude and adapt to it, overcoming 3000 meters above sea level, and everything up to 3000 is felt as sea level, there is no difference. Arriving by plane in Lhasa, you reach an altitude of 3650 meters, and calmly acclimatize for one night. By following basic safety rules on the first evening (move little, do not drink alcohol, smoke less and do not shower), you will easily acclimatize and in the morning you will already feel like you are at sea level. It's different on the train. Firstly, on the second night, when you are already pretty tired from the road, the train overcomes an altitude of 5200 meters above sea level, passing the Tangula Pass. This is a serious test for any organism, even for people who have lived in the mountains for many years or have experience traveling in the highlands. Secondly, oxygen is supplied to the train, which prevents the body from adapting to altitude naturally. If you immediately “get hooked” on oxygen, then upon arrival in Lhasa you will also need it, and without it you will have a headache and all the symptoms of altitude sickness will be yours. Thirdly, the train has only a few stops, there is no opportunity to get off and get some fresh air. Fourthly, on trains that take two days there is also a nurse who has nothing good in her first aid kit other than brilliant green. And there are no doctors on trains that travel overnight. Health problems often occur and conductors run around the carriages looking for any doctors among the passengers.

I had a funny case, in my permit to enter Tibet they wrote that I am a doctor, but this is not true, I do not have the medical knowledge to provide assistance. So, at night on the Xining-Lhasa train the conductor wakes me up: “Girl, girl, are you a doctor?” In my sleep I remember that the permit says so, I quickly react that since it’s written, I have to say “yes”, suddenly she checks me (which also happens). “Doctor,” I say. - “Urgently, in another carriage a child was burned by boiling water, help!” - .... child, boiling water .... no, I can’t help in such cases, I decide, and answer: “Sorry, I can’t treat such problems,” and continue to sleep. About 20 minutes later, about eight people come to my compartment with a crying child in their arms, the poor child’s skin is all torn open, he is screaming, how can I help, there is no doctor on the train!!! The frightened Uighur mother begs me to help them... Called himself a milk mushroom - get into the back. I had to say that I am a doctor-psychologist, and I don’t understand such matters... The neighbors in the carriage began to give popular advice: apply a cucumber and the like, but in fact the situation with the burn was already at the stage when the help of a specialist was required, so my conscience is clear, because I did not give popular advice, the only thing you can do in such cases is to survive the night, wait until the next day, get off the train and run to the hospital in Lhasa.

So, about the trip from Xining to Tibet

There are only 6 flights per day from Beijing to Xining. The planes are small Boeing 737. The most suitable flight, of course, is the earliest, so as not to spend the night in Xining. Having arrived on the earliest flight from the airport, you can immediately go to the railway station and take the Xining-Lhasa train in the afternoon. Xining Airport, despite the fact that it is a large transport hub, is very small. If you fly to Xining, you will be greeted at the airport with a sign. Greeters stand immediately after the baggage claim area. There are no Russian-speaking guides in Xining, so here you will be met by an English-speaking person. You shouldn't rely on the level of English here. Still, Xining lags far behind, for example, Beijing or Lhasa in terms of the level of development of tourism services.

If you are planning excursions in Qinghai (Taer (Kumbum) Monastery or Qinghai Lake), then you can fly on any Beijing-Lhasa flight, check into a hotel in Xining and travel around Xining.

If you immediately want to travel to Tibet, then having arrived Beijing-Xining on the earliest flight from the airport, you must immediately go to the railway station. Train Xining (Lanzhou) - Lhasa number 917 departs at 15-04. If there are other trains. 3 hours before the train departure, tickets are no longer issued. Therefore, for example, if you are traveling independently and decided to resolve the issue of your train tickets yourself, say, you have tickets issued on the Internet, then you must receive them at the ticket office before 12 noon. And to do this, you always have to stand in a giant queue, present a permit to Tibet and original passports. If you use the services of a travel agency, we will do everything for you without the original of your passport. In Xining, we have direct connections with professional resellers of train tickets. They often work miracles. But they too are powerless when political restrictions come into play.

It happens that tickets are ordered and paid for, but never go on sale, and the trains will leave empty (!), but there will be no tickets for sale! You may never understand the real reasons for this situation. Why? For example, one of these days, a provocative action will take place in some village, in which national minorities of the PRC (Tibetans, Uyghurs, etc.) will take part. In such cases, the government often restricts entry into problem areas. Tibet suffers from this constantly! For example, when I was traveling on the Xining-Lhasa train in April 2012, according to rumors (and usually these are rumors, they will never say this in the news), “something similar happened” in the village of Yushu. So for 5 days after our arrival, tickets from Xining to Lhasa were not on sale, and the trains were half empty.

Here I would like to explain to travelers why train tickets in China, especially for trains to Tibet, are always problematic, and until the last moment tickets are not issued to tourists. This is exactly the situation with train tickets in China. Therefore, do not torment yourself with questions “why?”, “But it’s not like that with us...”. This is a feature of China; if you choose to travel by train, there is always a risk of problems with arrival. If you don’t want these problems, it’s better to fly by plane; there are no such problems with air tickets!

I especially appeal to pilgrims and tourists to Mount Kailash. The journey is not easy, it will require physical and moral strength from you. If your budget does not allow you to fly to Tibet and back, then choose this option: to Tibet by air, from Tibet by train. This way you won’t arrive in Tibet tired from the train, you won’t harm your acclimatization, and train tickets for trains leaving Tibet are always easier to get than for trains entering Tibet.

This is not the first time that the Chinese have surprised the whole world with their bold technical solutions. Railway in
the highland part of China is fully such a project.
Sealed carriages, individual oxygen masks for each passenger, specially designed locomotives, endless overpasses on permafrost, dozens of deserted stations against the backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks - all this is a unique Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

In just five years and three and a half billion dollars, China built a highway 1,150 kilometers long, connecting the “Roof of the World” with the main territory of the country.


Back in the early 1920s, revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, in his programmatic “Plan for the Reconstruction of China,” proposed building about 100,000 kilometers of new railways in the country, including lines on the Tibetan Plateau. For objective reasons, they were able to return to the idea of ​​the “father of the nation” only in the 1950s under Chairman Mao. The railway project to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, was approved by 1960, but its construction was frozen for almost a decade and a half - China had difficulty reaping the benefits of the Great Leap Forward.

Only in 1974, the construction of the first section of the future highway, from the capital of Qinghai province, Xining, to Golmud, already on the Tibetan Plateau, was resumed. 814 kilometers of railway were built by the army and prisoners in five years, by 1979, but passenger traffic opened here only in 1984.

Work on the second, high-altitude section to Lhasa was associated with engineering tasks of particular complexity: the builders had to work in conditions of permafrost, lack of oxygen and, moreover, the unique Tibetan ecosystem, the preservation of which was declared a matter of paramount importance by the Chinese Party and government.

Only at the beginning of the 21st century did the country reach a level of technological readiness that made it possible to begin implementing a large-scale infrastructure project. Moreover, the construction of the railway to Lhasa became a key stage in the development program of Western China, the goal of which is to eliminate the imbalance in the development of the eastern and western regions of the country. Another important, and perhaps the main, task of the PRC government was to strengthen ties between the Tibetan Autonomy, control over which was re-established only in 1950, with the main Chinese territory.

According to the project approved in 2000 by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the total length of the new railway was to be 1,142 kilometers. On this site, 45 stations were organized, 38 of which were automatic, without maintenance personnel. The Tibetan highway from Golmud rose from an altitude of 2800 meters above sea level to the Tang La Pass (5072 meters) and then descended again to Lhasa (3642 meters).

Golmud station.

The final terminal is in Lhasa.

About 80% of the entire new section (960 kilometers) passed through difficult high mountain areas at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, of which about 550 kilometers were located in the permafrost zone.

Building a railroad there presented a serious engineering challenge. The fact is that the top layer of permafrost tends to thaw during the short summer period, sometimes turning into an impassable swamp. In this regard, soil movements posed a real threat, which could lead to deformation and destruction of the track. In order to eliminate such a risk, the designers of the Qinghai-Tibet Road developed a special design for its construction, which virtually isolates any impact of the highway on the environment and vice versa.

The rails were laid on a special embankment of cobblestones covered with a sand layer. In the transverse projection, the embankment was perforated with a through network of pipes to ensure better ventilation, and its slopes were covered with special metal sheets that reflected sunlight and thereby further prevented its heating. In some areas, wells filled with liquid nitrogen were also installed. All these measures actually froze the embankment under the road, preventing the heating of the upper layer of permafrost, its thawing and subsequent deformation of the railway track.

To compensate for elevation changes in the construction areas, a significant part of the highway is laid on overpasses. In total, there are 675 bridges along its 1,142 kilometers, with a total length of 160 kilometers. The supports of these overpasses are essentially piles, the bases of which rest deep in the permafrost, due to which seasonal thawing of the upper layer does not have any effect on the stability of the structure’s structure. The gaps between the column supports do not impede the free circulation of air underneath them, which allows minimizing the additional thermal effect from the railway.

In addition to the technical component, an important advantage of overpass sections is the fact that they do not interfere with the free movement of sometimes unique representatives of the local fauna under the highway. The negative effect of foreign inclusion in the Tibetan ecosystem is thus reduced to a minimum.

Sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Road, laid on embankments on the surface of the earth, are fenced along their entire length, and special tunnels and bridges are regularly built for the passage of migrating animals.

After completion of construction, the Tibet Railway set several records for railway construction. 350 kilometers from Golmud at an altitude of 4900 meters above sea level, the highest railway tunnel in the world was built, called Fenghuoshan (Wind Volcano Tunnel).

The Tang-La station on the mountain pass of the same name became the highest railway station in the world. The mountains surrounding it seem more like hills, but this is a deceptive impression. In fact, the three-track Tang La is located at an altitude of 5068 meters, only four meters below the highest point of the entire highway (5072 meters).

Although trains stop here, it is essentially just a siding on a single-track highway. The station is fully automatic and controlled from Xining, where the central control of the entire road is located. There are no populated areas nearby, which, however, did not stop the Chinese from building a fairly large station here, worthy of a record-breaking station.

In most cases, the doors of the carriages here do not even open. For an unprepared person, being at such an altitude, where the atmospheric pressure is only about 35-40% of the standard at sea level, poses a certain health risk.

To ensure that passengers enjoy traveling through the high mountainous regions with their stunning scenery, special rolling stock was developed for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The American corporation General Electric designed NJ2 diesel locomotives for the main line, modified for operation in high mountain conditions, with a power of 5100 hp. With. every. The locomotives are capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h with a train of 15 cars. In permafrost zones, their speed is limited to 100 km/h.

The carriages for road maintenance were built at the Chinese plant of the Canadian concern Bombardier in the amount of 361 units (308 regular and 53 special tourist). All of them are virtually hermetically sealed from the environment; oxygen pressure close to standard is maintained inside.

Despite this, attacks of mountain sickness caused by a lack of oxygen occurred among passengers. To prevent them, each seat in the carriages is equipped with individual oxygen tubes, similar to hospital ones. Tinted windows of cars with a special coating protect passengers from excess solar radiation, again characteristic of high mountains.

Standard carriages are divided into three classes that are familiar to us: seated, reserved seat and compartment. In addition, the trains have dining cars.

Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began in 2001. About 20,000 workers, who simultaneously began laying the highway from both end points (Golmud and Lhasa), completed the important task of the party in just five years, spending $3.68 billion. According to official data, no one died, even despite long-term work in conditions that were not the most comfortable for this.

The line's capacity is eight pairs of passenger trains per day (not counting freight trains). Currently, Lhasa is connected by regular passenger traffic not only with the neighboring “regional” center of Xining, but also with the largest cities of the country - Beijing and Shanghai. The Beijing-Lhasa Express takes 44 hours to travel. The cost of tickets, depending on the class, ranges from $125 (reserved seat) to $200 (compartment).

Over the seven years of operation, more than 63 million passengers and 300 million tons of cargo were transported along the road. Annual passenger turnover increased from 6.5 million people in 2006, when the highway was put into operation, to 11 million people in 2012, annual freight turnover increased from 25 million tons in 2006 to 56 million tons in 2012. It is already clear that the new railway has significantly boosted the economic development of Tibet and the neighboring province of Qinghai.

Delivery of goods to Tibet has become significantly cheaper, including energy resources that are especially valuable in mountainous conditions. The tourism industry has also received a new impetus for development, although it is still not possible for anyone who wants to leave, for example, to take a Beijing train to Lhasa. To visit Tibet, the Chinese government still requires a special permit, without which you simply will not be allowed on the train.

Skeptics consider the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to be just the next stage in the gradual Chinese colonization of a unique autonomous region and a locomotive for the development of its natural resources. Geologists have already discovered deposits of copper, lead and zinc in the highlands of Tibet, raw materials desperately needed by the rapidly growing Chinese industry. Environmentalists, of course, fear that the presence of a modern railway in the region will only encourage the Chinese government to quickly develop these deposits with unpredictable consequences for the fragile ecosystem of the region.

However, so far these are only unconfirmed fears. But it is difficult to deny the popularity of the road among Tibetan residents, who have the opportunity to easily and quickly get to the highly developed eastern regions of the country, and especially among tourists, for whom the highway is a wonderful attraction, created with typically Chinese tenacity, literally moving mountains.

On July 1, the opening ceremony of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway took place in China. The city of Golmud, Qinghai Province, became the main location for the ceremony dedicated to this event. Listen to our correspondent's report from Gomuda. Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the opening ceremony and gave a speech. He said that the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will go down in construction history.

The total length of the Qihai-Tibet Railway from Xining to Lhasa is 1,956 kilometers, with an average altitude of over 4,000 meters above sea level. Previously, the main means of transport here was the road and airline from the inland cities of China to Tibet.
Once the road is opened, the number of tourists to Tibet will increase rapidly. However, the local government has already developed measures to protect cultural values ​​and nature. Permafrost was one of the most difficult problems during the construction of the Qihai-Tibet Railway. Here it stretches for more than 550 kilometers. When laying the Qihai-Tibet Railway track, Chinese specialists used the method of laying a special layer of crushed stone between the track and the permafrost layer to prevent its thawing.

The builders of the Qihai-Tibet Railway worked in a harsh climate. The temperature sometimes reached minus 45 degrees. The number of days with strong wind was up to 160 days per year. In addition, the lack of oxygen at such an altitude was a serious problem. During construction, special attention was paid to nature conservation. There are 33 special passages for wild animals along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. An employee of the Venga reserve said: “We told the railway builders where wild animals often pass and advised them to build appropriate passages for the animals. In the first days, when the relocation of animals began, we advised the builders to stop work for 2-3 days. After the animals passed, they Construction has started again."

The opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has fulfilled the dreams and hopes of many people. Religious leader Neda, who has the status of a "living Buddha" in the Tibetan Bon religion, expressed his best wishes for the railway in words taken from Buddhist canons. He said: “The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, like a golden dragon, brings happiness and prosperity to the people. I wish the Tibetan people and all other nationalities of China good luck and happiness, I wish this railway to work for their benefit, so that passengers and goods on it "We have always been safe and prosperous. I wish fruitful work and success to all those who wish to open their own business in Tibet and good luck and prosperity to those who are planning to do business in the interior of the country."

The total length of this road, connecting the administrative centers of Qinghai Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region - the cities of Xining and Lhasa - is 1956 kilometers. The length of the newly built Golmud-Lhasa section is 1142 kilometers along the Kun-Lun and Tangla mountains. More than 550 kilometers of the route pass through the high-mountain tundra zone. 960 kilometers are laid at an altitude of over 4000 meters above sea level, with the highest point reaching 5072 meters.

Tangla station has become the highest station in the world: it is located at an altitude of 5068 meters. Punched at an altitude of 4905 meters, the Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest in the world, and the Kunlun tunnel, 1686 meters long, is the longest tunnel built in the high-mountain tundra zone, Xinhua reports.

The maximum speed of trains in the high-mountain tundra zone will be 100 km/h, in other areas up to 120 km/h. Each carriage is provided with additional oxygen to prevent oxygen starvation. Protection from solar radiation is also provided. Information on electronic screens installed in each train car is transmitted in three languages ​​at once: Chinese, Tibetan and English.

In the initial version of the schedule, three pairs of passenger trains will run on the new road: Beijing - Lhasa, Chongqing - Chengdu - Lhasa, Lanzhou - Xining - Lhasa. The journey from Beijing will take exactly two days. Ticket prices range from 389 to 1262 yuan ($49-158) depending on the class of carriage.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, 1,100 kilometers long, was built in uninhabited and deserted areas. 550 kilometers of this road were built in the permafrost zone of the highlands. The construction of such a railway has not yet been known in either the Chinese or world history of railway construction. However, a million-strong army of builders, showing an innovative spirit and adhering to a scientific approach, was able to overcome the difficulties of construction and successfully solve the most complex technical problems of construction in permafrost conditions, which are of a global nature.

Frozen soil refers to the various layers of Earth and soil that contain pieces of ice. Frozen soil increases in volume when frozen, and in summer, when the ice melts, it decreases in volume. The variable state of such soil leads to the destruction of the railway track, the appearance of cracks on it or buildings. According to Russian data from 1994, in the 70s of the 20th century, during the construction of the second Trans-Siberian Railway, 27.5% of the railway track suffered from various negative influences of the soil. According to Chinese data from 1990, this figure on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is 31.7%. Due to the negative effects of frozen soil in the world, trains on such railways can only travel at a speed of no more than 50 kilometers.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway passes through the Kunlong and Tangla Mountains. The highest point of the road is at an altitude of 5072 meters above sea level. The construction conditions were very difficult - the presence of wetlands, frozen soil, high ground surface temperatures in summer. All these were the most difficult technological difficulties.

Although Canada, Russia and other countries also have frozen soil, due to the fact that they are located at high latitudes, such soil is more durable and stable. And on sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Geermu to Lhasa, due to the low latitude and altitude of the area, high solar radiation, the frozen soil has its own complex properties. The world's highest tunnel was built in permafrost. The length of the tunnel was 1338 meters, the railway track was located at an altitude of 4905 meters above sea level. From this we can judge how many complex technical problems were resolved, and under what difficult conditions the construction of this railway took place.