Tibet Day 5-6: Onboard the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Outside the railcar. The sign says "La Sa" and "Xining West / Lan zhou"

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened on July 2006 to much fanfare and controversy. On the one hand it represented a significant engineering achievement (highest railway on the planet) and yet on the other hand was criticized as being a political tool to increase Beijing's control on Tibet through mass immigration. Symbolically, the project was also important because Tibet was one of the last provinces to connect to the national railway network. For the purposes of my trip it was simply the quickest way into Tibet which still allowed for acclimatization to the altitude.

For those of you who have traveled internationally on long distance train trips you'll find that the experience is quite similar in China. The train is divided into multiple classes:

1. Soft Sleeper. Completely enclosed cabin for 4 people (no ensuite washrooms though) with higher quality mattresses.
2. Hard Sleeper. Despite the name, the beds are quite comfortable although perhaps not as wide. There are 6 bunks to a compartment which is open to the hallway so there's less privacy. Noticeably less space to store luggage compared to the soft sleeper.
3. Soft seats and hard seats. For those truly on a budget you can spend the entire trip in a seat.

However, Tibet is no ordinary destination and the trains that ply the Q-T Railway are not ordinary either. First, special high-altitude diesel locomotives are used. I noticed that the train switched loco's at some point overnight. Secondly, for passenger comfort, the railcars are sealed and pressurized to I think the same extent as an airplane at altitude (10,000 ft). This would prove to be somewhat problematic given a) the high rate of smoking in China and b) the fact that the A/C would fail in my railcar 1-2 hours before arrival!

The geography apparently presented additional engineering challenges. Part of the railway is built upon permafrost which is only solid while frozen. The Chinese engineers built an elevated track with deep foundations with some sections requiring passive heat-exchange systems to prevent the permafrost from thawing. Secondly, the railway crosses the Kunlun mountain range on Tibet's northern border; the area is noteworthy for being an earthquake zone and so the railway is monitored.

View of the hallway from the hardsleepers. David is sitting on a tiny seat by the window. If you look closely, you can see the foot rests halfway up the wall so people can climb up to the upper bunks.

My bunk. The bottom bunk has the most headroom and it is the communal bunk where everybody sits during the daytime. Note the tiny table by the window.

So, we settled down into our bunks which we shared with a Chinese couple. They took the top two and for the first night they kept to themselves. We had just enough room to stash our luggage and we made ourselves at home. At the end of the car there were 3 sinks and a squat-style toilet. There was also a dining car towards the front and regular meal/snack cart service.

The conductor came by and exchanged our tickets for a plastic chit. She reviewed our TTP and laughed out loud: "A Brit, a Finn, a German, and a Canadian!" (sounds like the beginning of a joke). I suppose they were more used to tour groups of a single nationality.


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Here's the approximate route of the Q-T Railway - it closely follows the highway into Tibet. The trains are supposedly timed so that it traverses the scenic sections during daylight hours. Unfortunately, we would later discover that the train climbed through the Kunlun Mountain range, which forms the northern border of the Tibetan Plateau, overnight -- I would have found that very scenic!

Qinghai Lake with silhouette of Aleksi.

These pictures were taken through the window of the train -- they're a bit blurry and in hindsight I should have manually focused my camera. For the first night we would be traveling through Qinghai province and we wouldn't arrive on the Plateau until the next morning. Probably the most scenic spot for this first part of the trip was Qinghai lake which is the largest lake in China. This lake is one of the attractions one can visit while in Xining.

China's main power source: coal.

It's only when the train goes through a winding section that you can actually see the track. This photo shows a stockpile of coal which is still an important fuel source in rural China.

An industrial plant of some sort.

The barren landscape is probably the most striking aspect of the geography of the area. Qinghai province is nicknamed "China's Siberia" because apparently the province is notable for 2 things: 1) Prisons and 2) Nuclear waste disposal! Although we're not on the Plateau yet we are still fairly high up and only the hardy flora and fauna can grow in this arid environment. But, I didn't marvel at the unspoiled view for long -- you would get intermittent but frequent signs of development such as the road the rail line followed, industrial looking buildings, and hydro towers. It's a reflection of how much infrastructure is required to support the rail line.

In addition to admiring the view I passed the time by chatting with my companions, eating in the dining car, and reading my Lonely Planet. We had reached Golmud, a town just north of the Kunlun mountains, by the time I turned in for the night.

High altitude, indeed.

When I awoke the next morning, I snuck a peek at the information display which was in the hallway just outside my compartment. I blinked when it said that we were over 5,000 m and the temperature outside was below zero! I didn't think to take a photo of the display immediately so this photo was a few hours afterwards. The highest point on the route is the Tanggula Pass which at 5,072 m is the highest rail track in the world. The Chinese built Tanggula Station which is nice except for the fact that the area is uninhabited! Hmm, I guess they did it for the record books since the railway station is unmanned and passengers are not permitted to disembark. Tanggula pass is also the watershed for the region with all water to the north draining into the Yangtze river and all water to the south heading, well, southwards (probably into India?). So, from this point onwards it was all downhill into Lhasa.

One of many small settlements by the rail line. Note the ice on the ground!

I once again headed down to the dining car for breakfast. Thanks to a nice tour guide from the U.S. the previous day, the waiters (who interestingly doubled as security guards) were told that (gasp!) I was a non-speaking Mandarin person of Chinese descent. I've gotten used to the shock/amazement/disdain/pity that would come my way when they find out.

Except for the snow and ice on the ground the scenery wasn't terribly different from the previous day although the mountain peaks were starting to get bigger:

Yaks. Lots of yaks in Tibet.

I could feel my excitement start to grow as we came closer to our destination. I marveled at the yak herds and the Tibetan nomads who were living off the land. At every train stop we tried to get off so we could briefly stretch our legs, look around, and become hypoxic by breathing in the high altitude air (more on this in the next post).

Na Qu Station. Lots of tourists with high powered SLRs. Note the altitude on the sign.

For the rest of the trip the train slowly descended into the Lhasa valley with mountains on both sides of the route. The snow melted away and the outside temperature warmed up dramatically in the sunshine. We went from heated cabins in the morning to A/C around noon-time. Unfortunately, the A/C died in our train car 1.5 hours before we reached Lhasa. In addition, we were held up at a station for about 30 min. for some unknown reason. Aside from these hiccups I was quite happy with how the train trip turned out.

Lhasa Station. The platform and station are about 4x bigger than they need to be.

Lhasa Station was impressively big and it was clear there was a message behind its unnecessary size. In addition, the 3 armed soldiers in full military attire at the entrance to the station was the first sign of what to expect when traveling in Tibet. Since taking pictures of anything military was verboten in China, I had to settle for this picture once we were further away:

We made it! We were given the Tibetan scarves as a welcome gift by our tour guide.

Our tour guide, Lumbum, met us at the front and welcomed us with Tibetan scarves. These white scarves (khata) are white to symbolize purity of intentions and the beginning of a relationship. A great way to start the trip in earnest!