Lhasa-Shigatse railway to complete track-laying (3)

The Lhasa-Shigatse railway, known as the national key project, has completed the track-laying according to the railway construction headquarter under the Ministry of Railways of China.

The Lhasa-Shigatse railway is the extension line of Qinghai-Tibet railway. By the end of 2012, the project had completed 82.3 kilometers track laying, 27.83 percent of the total construction. It is predicted that all the rail-laying would be completed in 2013.

According to the person in charge, the Lhasa-Shigatse railway has completed 7.604 billion yuan (about $1.22 billion) investment, accounting for 57.25 percent of the total by the end of Dec. 2012. The finished roadbed and earthwork construction was 18.1 million cubic meters, accounting for 76.39 percent of the total. The whole tunnel project has finished 61,520 meters, accounting for 85.13 percent of the total.

The estimated preliminary design budget of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway is 13.3 billion yuan (about $2.14 billion) and the annual volume of goods transported will be above 8.3 million tons. The railway is designed to reachⅠ-class national railway.

There will be all together 13 stations along the 253-kilometer railway line within four years construction, including South Lhasa, Qushui County and Nyemo County. It is expected that the trains' speed will be exceed 120 km/h.

The completion of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway will enlarge the influence of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and change the previous road-dominated transportation in Southwest Tibet.