Chinese workers install the sign on the roof of Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 20, 2006. The Chinese characters say "Lhasa." It was the largest railway station alongside Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1.[Xinhua]

A trial train runs on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway beside the Cuona Lake in Anduo County, Tibet, June 20, 2006. Qinghai-Tibet Railway will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006.[Xinhua]

Some general views of the terminal station of Qinghai-Tibet Railway,Lhasa Station, in Lhasa,Tibet, June 20, 2006.Qinghai-Tibet Railway will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006.[Xinhua]

Workers rest at the nearly finished Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 24, 2006. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

A worker cleans the ground outside the nearly finished Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 24, 2006. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

Workers make final touches at the nearly finished Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 24, 2006. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

Workers hang a sign with Chinese characters which read "Lhasa station welcomes you" (L) and "please keep the platform neat" at the nearly finished Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, June 24, 2006. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will begin trial operations on July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

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World's highest railway - triumph of engineering or death knell for Tibet?

Independent Online: 30 June 2006
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing

The Beijing government hails the world's highest railway as a triumph of Chinese engineering that will open up the Tibetan capital Lhasa to the outside world. Exiled activists from the mountainous enclave fear that the track will sound the death knell for the traditional culture of Tibet. Environmentalists fear irreparable damage to a precious ecosystem on the remote and frozen Qinghai plateau.

Whichever argument prevails, the departure of the first train from Beijing to Lhasa signals a profound change for Tibet.

Ruled for hundreds of years by red-robed Tibetan Buddhist monks, Lhasa is a different place from the time when Chinese troops entered in 1950 and began imposing the dominant Han Chinese culture on the ancient territory.

The railway will run 1,142 kilometres (700 miles) across the roof of the world, reaching heights of over 5,000 metres at some stretches. Some of the pricier carriages will be pressurised in case travellers get altitude sickness. The railway, which took four years to build and cost £2.3 bn, will link Lhasa to Golmud, which is already connected to China's vast rail network.

Most travellers now take long bus journeys or fly into Lhasa. The first train service from Beijing will take 48 hours to reach Lhasa and 120 kilometres (75 miles) of the route runs along elevated bridges in areas where the permafrost was thought to be least stable.

President Hu Jintao will take the train tomorrow from Xining to Lhasa and the inaugural journey has been heralded as a triumph of Chinese engineering. Tickets sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale.

Beijing says the rail link will give the region a boost by improving trade links with the prosperous east. Initially, three services will connect Lhasa to Beijing, as well as Xining and Chengdu, and each train can carry 900 passengers. However, groups demanding more autonomy for the region fear the train will bring even more Han Chinese migrants into Tibet, further diluting the indigenous culture.

Some 80,000 Tibetan exiles have been living in India since 1959, when their leader the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising.

Beijing says that Tibet has been Chinese for hundreds of years and accuses the Dalai Lama of being a separatist agitator. This week, Tibetan exiles demonstrated at the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, saying the railway was a "death knell" for Tibet. Groups including Students for a Free Tibet have been wearing black armbands in protest and plan to demonstrate outside Chinese embassies around the world this Saturday.

The deputy director of the rail project, Zhu Zhensheng, said the railway would improve the lives of Tibetans and that the government had gone to great lengths to protect the environment.