Quinghai Railway

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Quinghai Railway.

This was one of the highlights of the tour more so that the Everest Base Camp is now closed. After checking out of the hotel at 0800hrs I had problem getting a taxi and in the end had to settle for a motorised cycle rickshaw. It appeared that they were not allowed to carry foreigners as he was doing everything he can to avoid any police, there were plenty of them at every corner, on the route. The alternative was for me to hide my face to prevent recognition. The navigator maps were great as they were "off-line" which saved me a few times. The rickshaw was trying to take me to the bus station that run buses directly to the airport. So much for communication.

At the station some of the information was in English but nothing as it was in Beijing. May be because of the train I got or may be because of the class, it was exclusively Chinese. The train from Shanghai was boarded by atleast 500, I was the one and only foreigner. On the train also I did not meet anybody. The other passengers were nice and polite. There was no point in trying to talk to somebody other than be polite and smile. The train arrived and left spot on time. For the first 2 hours it was just open country side with towns and villages everywhere. We seemed to stop at a couple of stations for around 15 minutes each. I presume that as the train was on time we were arriving at these stations ahead of time.

The rail line was electrified and double tracked. I don't know if that would be true for the Tibet section. The tracks were well apart, there was often a kilometer between them. I have seen a small village in between more than once. With the deep valleys and high mountains the lines run between bridges and tunnels and there are a lot of bridges over the land probably to maintain level. In any case it is better for the ecosystem of the land.

Soon we were climbing from the low lying Xi'an to Xining which was at 2600m. As the terrain turned mountainous there were tunnels after tunnels. There were some villages in the valleys, some cultivation, raging muddy rivers and even the sky turned misty and dull. Soon trees disappeared from the hills.There was a lot of gravel / sand collection from the rivers. It would be necessary as it appears that China is still investing heavily in infrastructure, in rail, road and city building.

To my surprise the guy below my bed was an English and French teacher and we talked about many things. Owen, his English name, was taught at school by an English teacher. He also like to travel but don’t like hot sweaty places. Being from the highlands he finds the humidity oppressive. He was another "one child". His next plan is to visit Australia and NZ, where he has friends. He was getting down at Lhonzo around 1700hrs. After about 4 hours into the journey the peaks gave way to a hilly plateue and the number of tunnels reduced in frequency. There hills went completely barren as it was too dry to support vegetation. It was also getting colder. There was a bullet train track under constructed beside the current tracks which would cut down travel time by more than half. From the straightness of the line, taking out the curves and changes in inclines one could see that it is made for high speed. Most of the track is on elevated bridges. Rather than trying to upgrade the current track the authorities had opted for a new line avoiding years of disruption. Both lines will be in service, the bullet train being an expensive but faster option.

Back to the train. We reached Xining around 2000hrs. It is in valley between mountain ranges which apparently restricted its expansion laterally. It made it up with the length. The city was in a building boom. There were 20-25 story apartments going up everywhere with building cranes. It appeared to be much more active than in Beijing or in Xi'an.

As it was getting dark I decided to go to bed early as I might have breathing problems in the high altitude. The train was struggling up the slopes. There were a couple of stops. When I woke early next morning it was getting lighter. We were travelling almost on level ground between two mountain ranges.There was permafrost all around, the small lakes and rivulets were all frozen, there was also some remaining snow. The mountains were covered with snow. Around 0730 the train started to climb again, and I was starting to feel the effect of altitude. On the road beside you could see lorries struggling to climb on the highway. The mountains were getting closer on both sides. Even at the highest point, some 5, 100m the altitude sickness was minimal. I presume because of the oxygen pumped in

There was an oxygen generator in the bogie. On its panel you could see the altitude indicated. Highest I saw on that was 5096, then I was not looking all the time.. By now the mountains were glacial and there was a lot of snow on them. on the ground everything was frozen. Bu strange there were what looked like deer grazing on the brown vegetation. There were small roads, I saw a motorbike and a jeep even in the middle of nowhere. We were only a 1000 m below the peaks. From around 1030hrs we started to descent. From a struggling 70km per hour we were doing 110km per hour. By 1300hrs we had reached Na Qu a small village with impressive railway station and buildings. This is probably the highest railway station in the world at 4513m. It was still another 5 hours to Lhasa. Going down now the lakes were with water, some small dwellings, yak and sheep grazing on the brown vegetation. Only problem now was the single lane track (it happened when we were asleep and the power was not electric) as we we had to stop, giving way for trains coming up from Lhasa. As expected the train was spot on time when we pulled into Lhasa. A show piece of a railway station. They probably want to show how well they can do things and show the Tibetans that they really have a future with China.

To appreciate the engineering feet of making this railway one has trace it by travelling beside that on the road. I had a chance to do that. To get to Namatso Lake we had travel by road northwest of Lhasa following the railway line most of the way. Most of the time the rail track is built on embankments protected on both sides by erosion breakers, almost amounting to an art form, otherwise it is running over miles and miles of land bridges. Then suddenly it disappears into a tunnel. As the road winds down into the ravine and struggles up the slopes to level grounds the railway suddenly emerges from the mountain.

As you get down in Lhasa the first thing that strikes you is the number of police and army are about. They were everywhere especially around public buildings. The guide was waiting outside and I wasregistered into the hotel with passport permit etc. I just retired to room after having a Tibetan preparation of meat and vegetables in almost a soup form and buying a bottle of water

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