Tibet Train

Qinghai-Tibet Railway/Sky Train/Lhasa Express

The Tibet Railway extends 1,956 kilometers from Xining, Qinghai Province to Lhasa, Tibet and is the world's longest railroad built atop a plateau. Construction started on June 29th, 2001 and opened to traffic on July 1st, 2006. The Golmud-Lhasa section extends 1,142 kilometers with the highest elevation being some 5,072 meters above sea level at Tanggula Range making it also the highest railway in the world. Upon its completion, the maximum train speed is designed to reach 100 kilometers per hour in the frozen earth areas and 120 kilometers per hour on non-frozen earth. Construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the landmark railway commenced on June 29, 2001 and test runs are set for July 2006.

As the Tibet Railway traverse three ranges and many rivers and lakes, the sceneries along the Railway to Tibet are marvelous and majestic. 45 railway stations offer visitors picturesque sceneries among which nine sightseeing stations have sightseeing platforms. Some of the famous charming sights along the line are Qinghai Lake and Bird Island, Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges, Kekexili, Tuotuo Rivers, Yangpachen, and Potala Palace etc. Not only rivers, lakes, grasslands and forests, but also Jokul can be admired along the line.

World Tops of Qinghai-Tibet Railway

• World's highest railway. Some 960 kilometers of its tracks are located 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's most elevated track.
• World's longest plateau railroad, extending 1,956 kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital Views on the way Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The newly completed Golmud-Lhasa section zigzags 1,142 kilometers across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges.
• World's longest tracks in any of the plateau railways run on frozen earth, about 550 kilometers
• World's highest railway station-Tanggula Railway Station, 5,068 meters above sea level
• World's most elevated tunnel on frozen earth-Fenghuoshan Tunnel, 4,905 meters above sea level
• World's longest plateau tunnel built on frozen earth-Kunlun Mountain Tunnel, running 1,686 meters

Soft Sleeper and Hard Sleeper

The only difference between soft sleeper and hard sleeper is that in hard sleeper you are in a compartment having 6 beds with 3 levels rather than 4 beds with 2 levels and there's not always a door on the compartment. This means that in hard sleeper the sound - and much worse - the smoke, drifts in from outside. You are also right near the fluorescent lights and speakers which pipe (mostly annoying) music throughout the day. It is also a pain having to get in and out of bed if you need to go to the toilet during the night.

Soft sleepers have a couple of benefits. The first little benefit is that people with soft sleeper tickets have their own waiting area, away from the masses. It doesn’t mean though that it is any less crowded.The lounge has nice big comfortable sofas. From the lounge area you can go directly to the platforms when your train is scheduled to arrive. The regular gates are usually a mad rush of people trying to get through.

Please be noticed that

In 2007, except the train to/from Beijing arriving directly, all other trains' passengers would be transferred to another sky train at Xining Stop for the terminal station. From the year of 2008, no longer to change the train at Xining, but only the train to/from Beijing is available every day, all other trains of Chengdu, Lanzhou, Xining, Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou to/from Lhasa are available every other day.

Click the link below to check the round way timetable and train fare of the Qinghai-Tibet Trains.

Lhasa-Beijing-Lhasa     Lhasa-Chengdu-Lhasa      Lhasa-Lanzhou-Lhasa

Lhasa-Xining-Lhasa      Lhasa-Shanghai-Lhasa      Lhasa-Chongqing-Lhasa

Lhasa-Guangzhou-Lhasa