PEKING (dpa) – China has begun work on building the first railway to Tibet, the highest train route in the world – but the project has run into hot debate politically.
Opponents fear the cultural takeover of Tibet by the People’s Republic and more Chinese flowing into the largest high plateau on Earth.The two termini of the new route celebrated the project’s official kick-off on the “roof of the world” last week. The train is to travel between Golmud in Qinghai province and the Tibetan capital Lhasa.Even the “Great Helmsman”, former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, dreamed of such a route, but until now the technical problems involved were thought to be insurmountable.Four-fifths of the 1,118-kilometre-long route lie above 4,000 metres. To cope with the permafrost conditions the tracks will have to be partly elevated and use layers of insulation. At this altitude conventional locomotives can operate at only about 60 per cent of their capacity, so full electrification of the route is being considered for the future.Because of the lack of oxygen and low air pressure, experts are looking into the possibility of using pressurized passenger compartments such as in airliners.But whatever the future may bring, the route is almost certain to become the world’s first-ever to be equipped with oxygen apparatus as standard and carry doctors who can treat altitude sickness.The project will cost 2.4 billion dollars and take up to eight years to build. Whether these figures are accurate or just a conservative estimate remains to be seen. Even Chinese experts have their doubts, but, as Prime Minister Zhu Rongji puts it, “it is high time” to build it.Fifty years after the Chinese army’s occupation of Tibet, building the rail connection is politically strategic.According to Lhasa Mayor Lobsang Gyaltsen, the new route will “play an important role in the promotion of exchanges between ethnic groups, encourage exploitation of natural resources, support the economic development of western China and strengthen national defence.”China is fully aware though of criticism that the route will lead to further assimilation of Tibetans into Chinese culture.Lobsang Gyaltsen counters that “the train will bring modern concepts and lifestyles to Tibet, but that should not present a danger to the religious beliefs of the people. Doesn’t religion continue to flourish in Western countries with developed scientific, technical and transportation systems?”Criticism of the project has less to do with the train itself than with Chinese rule of Tibet. Because the fact remains that backward Tibet is economically dependent on China.Today, lorries filled with everyday goods from petrol to noodles roll along the manifold unpaved or ruined roads that lead through narrow mountain passes more than 5,000 metres high.About 85 per cent of goods are brought to Tibet in this way, their trip to Lhasa taking two days – that is when everything goes right.
