Key facts on world's highest railway
The new railway line linking Tibet with the rest of China was opened on Saturday.
The new railway line linking Tibet with the rest of China was opened on Saturday.
Following are some key facts about the railway:
* The 1,142-km railway is the world's highest and links Golmud in Qinghai province to the Tibetan capital Lhasa. The route is characterised by harsh terrain, snow-covered climate and frequent earthquakes.
* Built at a total cost of $3.76 billion, the railway makes it possible to travel from Lhasa to the Chinese capital Beijing in just 48 hours.
* The line climbs 16,640 feet above sea level and runs across Tibet's snow-covered plateau, known as the roof of the world.
* More than 960 kilometers of the railway was built at 13,120 feet above sea level and 550 km in areas of frozen earth, with 30 railway stations.
* Researchers at the Beijing-based National Climate Centre say winter temperatures, expected to rise by another 1-2 degree Celsius by 2050, could melt the frozen ground beneath the railway affecting its operation.
* At its peak, the railway will have the Tangula Station, the world's highest-altitude railway station.
* The rail link is one of the world's great engineering feats, accomplished by sometimes boring tunnels through ice as construction crews breathed bottled oxygen.
* With 20,000 builders involved, the project has generated about 7,000 tonnes of garbage or five tonnes per day during its construction.