A 1,080-km (670-mile) section of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad is currently under construction from Golmud to Lhasa. It includes the now completed 3,345-meter Yangbajain No. 1 tunnel which is 4,264 meters above sea level and located 80 km NW of the regional capital Lhasa. The 815-km section from Xining to Golmud in Qinghai opened to traffic in 1984. This railway will be the first railway that connects central China and Tibet, which due to its altitude is the last province in China that has no railroads.

More than 960 kilometers, or over four-fifths of the railway, will be built at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, and over half of it will be laid on frozen earth.

The railway's highest point, the Tanggula Mountain Pass , is 5,072 meters above sea level.

Thirty railway stations are to be built, among them Tanggula Mountain station, which at 4,500 m will be one of the highest-altitude railway stations in the world (after Cóndor station, at 4,786 m, on the Rio Mulatos-Potosí line, Bolivia, and La Galera at 4,781 m in Peru).

Rail-laying in Tibet was launched in double directions, towards Tanggula Mountain and Lhasa, at Anduo Railway Station on 22.06.2004. When the railway construction that started on 29.06.2001 is complete (expected in 2005; signalling and track testing require another 6 to 12 months), it will be possible to travel from Lhasa to Beijing in 48 hours. The railway will later be extended to Xigaze (to the west) and Linzhi (Nyingchi , to the east).

The construction of the railway is one of the government's attempts to develop western China, which is much less developed than eastern China.

See also

• Rail transport in mainland China