On June 28th, construction on railways linking Lhasa with Nyingchi, a section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway, kicks off and will be finished in seven years. With a length of about 435 kilometers, the total investment of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway reaches 36.674 billion RMB ($ 5.91 billion). After the construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, it takes only three hours from Lhasa to Nyingchi, which is five hours faster than taking buses.

The Lhasa-Nyingchi railway will reach a speed of 160 km per hour. The construction of three lines including tunnel in Mt. Sandrup, Bayu tunnel and the Bayu bridges has already begun in December of last year.

For complex geological conditions, the construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway is very difficult. More than 90% of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway is in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and above 3000 meters. The whole line straddles the Yalu Zangbu River 16 times. Besides, total length of all bridges and tunnels on this railway exceeds 300.01 kilometers, accounting for 74.6% of the entire line. Among the 47 tunnels on the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, there are 14 high-risk tunnels and 7 tunnels with the risk of highest level.

After 15 years when the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet railway line completed, only 15 hours will be needed from Chengdu to Lhasa, which will save 33 hours from current speed. It will play an important role in Tibet’s economic development.