Construction of Sichuan-Tibet Railway Have Started

Following Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Sichuan-Tibet Railway is regarded as the second Sky Road to Lhasa from Chengdu via Ya’an, Garze, Qamdo and Lyingchi, etc. Covering a distance of 1629 km in total, Sichuan-Tibet Raiway contains two sections: a 979-km Tibet section and a 650-km Sichuan section. It's predicted to be completed by the year of 2030.

New-built Sichuan-Tibet Railway Map

Sichuan-Tibet Railway is consisted of three phrases from east to west: Chengdu-Kangting, Kangting-Lyingchi and Lyingchi-Lhasa. Although lots of difficulties and problems need to be solved, constructions from both ends towards the middle section have begun.

According to the national railway construction guideline, Chengdu-Kangting section is divided into Chengdu-Yan’an and Ya’an-Kangting. With a total distance of 41.48km, Chengdu-Yan’an Segment has a designed speed of 200 km per hour. And two new stations at Mingshan and Ya’an have been built en route. It’s expected to open to public use at June., 2018. However, Ya’an-Kangting Segment with a designed speed of 160 km per hour will start construction this year.

Terrain and topography in Southwest region is more complicated than other parts of China. Sichuan-Tibet Railway would travel through Sichuan Basin, Yuan-Guizhou Plateau and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. ”It’s like building a giant rollercoaster among the most dangerous and complex area on earth,” said Lin Shijin, a deputy chief engineer of China’s railways. It costs more than 36.67 billion yuan and seven years on the 435-km Lyingchi-Lhasa section, which has been under construction since Jun.28th,2015.

Once completed, it would take you only three hours to Lyingchi from Lhasa and one hour from Chengdu to Kangting by Chengdu-Lhasa train. The traveling time on train from Chengdu to Lhasa would be shortened from current 48 hours to 15 hours along new-built Sichuan-Tibet Railway. No wonder that the poor transportation in Garze, Qamdo and Lyingchi would be improved thoroughly. And over 3 million people would benefit from Sichuan-Tibet Railway project. Let’s just expect the completion of Sichuan-Tibet Railway.