Why is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway called a magical heavenly road?

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway starts from Xining in Qinghai in the east and ends in Lhasa in Tibet in the south, with a total length of 1956 km. Known as the "Heavenly Road", it is a landmark project to implement the strategy of developing the western region and one of the four major projects in China in the new century. On July 1 day, 2006, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was officially opened to traffic.

Technical difficulties

Most of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is located in high altitude areas and "forbidden zones". The construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway faces three major world railway construction problems: fragile ecology, cold and oxygen-deficient environment and geological structure of frozen soil.

Ecological environment protection

In order to protect the blue sky, blue lake water and rare wild animals on the plateau, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Railways formed a joint expert group to conduct in-depth research on the eco-environmental protection work along the railway, and formulated specific environmental protection measures. The funds earmarked for eco-environmental protection projects exceeded 10 billion yuan. Monitoring the whole process of Qinghai-Tibet railway construction, the investment in environmental protection alone reached more than 2 billion yuan, accounting for 8% of the total project investment. It is the railway construction project with the largest investment in environmental protection by the China Municipal Government. It introduced environmental supervision for the first time in national project construction and signed environmental responsibility letters with local environmental protection departments for the first time. For the first time in the history of railway construction, the goal of "creating excellence and protecting the environment" was put forward. Qingshui river bridge, located in the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, was first built by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway for the migration of wild animals such as Tibetan antelopes.

Plateau disease

The section above 4000m above sea level of Qinghai-Tibet Railway accounts for about 85% of the whole line, the annual average temperature is below 0℃, and the oxygen content in air in most areas is only 50%-60% of that in the mainland. Cold and lack of oxygen, sandstorms raging, strong ultraviolet rays and numerous natural foci are called the "forbidden zone" of human survival limit.

Plateau frozen soil

The volume of frozen soil expands in the frozen state, and it shrinks when it melts in summer. Under the repeated action of these two phenomena, the basement of roads or houses will crack or collapse. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has low latitude, high altitude, strong sunshine and frequent tectonic movements, and its frozen soil is unparalleled in complexity and uniqueness.