(TibetanReview.net, Jan03’20) – China plans to build at least 4,000 kilometres of new railway lines this year, including 2,000 km of high-speed lines, with the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, the second railway into the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) after the Qinghai-Tibet line, being a major project this year, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Jan 3.
The report cited the Ministry of Transport as saying December that China would spend at least 2.7 trillion yuan ($386 billion) on transport infrastructure projects this year, with 800 billion yuan going to railways.
Regarding the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, China State Railway Group has called for preparatory work to take place on the project’s official launch, including optimizing a plan for organizing early construction of certain sections, pushing forward the railway’s initial design, and drawing up its specified technical and management standards.
Described as highly challenging both geologically and geographically, the Sichuan-Tibet Railway is expected to further open up Tibet to China as well as China to south Asia as a critically important part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
