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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 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.
The carriages are specially built and have an oxygen supply for each passenger.
Tanggula railway station, located at 5,068 m, is the highest elevated in the world:
The bridge on permafrost:
Criticism
Opponents of China's Tibet policies claimed that the railway was built to strengthen its political control over Tibet.
It is alleged by these opponents that the railway will encourage further immigration from the rest of China, reducing the proportion of Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans find it increasingly difficult to compete in the job market against skilled Han workers (most of the workers on the railway were of the Han ethnicity).
Tibetans independence supporters have also expressed concerns that the Chinese government will use the railway to strengthen its military presence in the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as to further exploit Tibet's natural resources and damage its environment. As a result, Bombardier Transportation, a Canadian company, has faced international criticism from some pro-independence organizations for its involvement in constructing rail cars for the project.