On July 1,2006, the opening of the Qinghai-tibet Railway, the key project of western development, finally provided Tibet with access to a railway. It helped Tibet form an increasingly integrated transportation system comprising railway, civil aviation and highways, which greatly improved transportation capacity and reduced the cost of materials transported to and from the region.

In 2007, Tibet moved 3.8482 million tons of goods, a rise of 6.7 percent from 2006, including: 124,100 tons via railways; 3.6 million tons via highways, a rise of 4.1 percent; 11,800 tons by air, up 10.2 percent; and 112,300 tons via pipelines, down 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, the year also saw a volume of passenger traffic of 6.801 million person times, an increase of 12.3 percent, including: 888,500 person-times via railways, up 29.1 percent; 4.6 million by highways, an increase of 3.4 percent; 1.3125 million by air, up 19.2 percent. Total telecom business amounted to 3.093 billion Yuan, up 43.5 percent.

( Source: China's Tibet Facts & Figures 2008)