1. First tour group arrived at Lhasa on scheduale on April 5th
2. Tibet reopen to foreign tourists from April 5th
The Qingzang railway, Qinghai-xizang railway, or Qinghai Tibet railway is a high-altitude railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in China.
The total length of Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1956 km. Construction of the 815 km section between Xining and Golmud was completed by 1984. The 1142 km section between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on 1 July 2006 by president Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were "Qing 1" (Q1) from Golmud to Lhasa, and "Zang 2" (J2) from Lhasa.This railway is the first to connect China proper with the Tibet Autonomous Region, which due to its altitude and terrain is the last province-level entity in the People's Republic of China to have a conventional railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on 1 May 2006.Trains run from Beijing, Chengdu (where you can see pandas), Chongqing (which is the gateway of Yangtse River), Xining and Lanzhou.
The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 m (16,640 feet) above sea level the world's highest rail track. The 1,338 m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world, at 4,905 m above sea level. The 3,345-m Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line. It is 4,264 m above sea level, 80 kilometres north-west of Lhasa.
More than 960 km, or over 80% of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and about 550 km of the railway is laid on permafrost.
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