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Since its successful trial run on July 1,2006, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has been a boon for the sound and rapid social and economic development of Tibet. The Vice-Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference of the TAR, Balsang Toinzhub, holds that the railway is playing an important role in the following five aspects: First, it has elevated the status of Tibet in the national regional economic pattern, reduced the distance between Tibet and the hinterland markets and strengthened relations between people in Tibet and the hinterland; second, it has accelerated the economic development of Tibet, leading it into golden period; third, it has improved the traffic condition in Tibet, greatly reducing transportation costs and, at the same time, promoting the development of the highway and civil aviation sectors; Fourth, it has promoted the transformation of Tibet's economic structure and development mode, accelerating the development of secondary industry; Fifth, it has attracted more foreign investment for Tibet. By the end of 2007, statistics showed that Qinghai-Tibet Railway handled 1.5765 million person-times passengers and 482,100 tons of cargos. The on-schedule rate of departures reached 99.3 percent, and that of arriving passenger trains 97.5 percent.
Thanks to the renovation of the bridges and channels on the Golmud-Lhasa Section and the strengthening of the roadbed in the permafrost zone and the establishment of the five-level monitoring and inspection system, the superior operating rate of the railway reached over 99.8 percent, and the accident rate of operational equipment was reduced to a large degree. The latest monitoring results along the railway show that through two years of operation, the equipment, personnel and management passed primary examination and realized safe, stable and orderly operation.
Construction has begun on the Lhasa-Xigaze extension line for expected completion in 2010.It has a total length of 254 km, with a preliminary budgeted investment of 11 billion Yuan. Preliminary planning has also begun for the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, which is expected to be constructed in five years. This will then form a Sichuan-Yunnan-Tibet Railway, driving the economic and trade development between the western provinces and autonomouos regions such as Qinghai, gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang and South Asia.
( Source: China's Tibet Facts & Figures 2008 )
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