(TibetanReview.net, Jan19, 2012)
The first extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, connecting Tibet’s capital Lhasa with Shigatse (Chinese: Xigatze) City in southern Tibet has been in full swing since Sep 2010 and will be completed as scheduled by 2015, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jan 17. Just three days earlier, the media in Nepal had cited visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as saying he would seriously consider his Nepalese counterpart’s request for this line to be extended to Kathmandu and then on to Lumbini near India’s border.
The report cited the development and reform commission of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as saying in a statement that workers had finished laying 14.08 million cubic metres of roadbed – about 77 percent of the total – and built 40 percent of the tunnels along the road.
The report said the 253-km extension line will pass through five counties and the 90-km-long Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon.
Of its budget of 13.3 billion yuan (US $2.1 billion), 3.4 billion yuan had been spent by the end of 2011.
The report cited Jin Shixun, chief of the commission, as saying the new railway line was designed to have a transport capacity of 8.3 million tonnes of freight annually and will allow trains to travel at a minimum speed of 120 km per hour.
Shigatse City is the administrative centre of the prefecture of the same name. The report noted that the prefecture, with an area of 182,000 sq km, shared borders with India, Nepal and Bhutan and included Mt Qomolangma (Tibetan: Jomolangma, Mt Everest).
Once the Shigatse line opens, China will start building another extension of the plateau railway, from Lhasa to Nyingchi, in the next five years, the report said, citing the TAR's plan for economic and social development in the 2011-2015 period.
Earlier (TibetanReview.net, Feb15, 2011)said:
Chinese trains to chug near Sikkim border by 2017
(TibetanReview.net, Feb15, 2011) Come the year 2017 and China will have not only completed the Lhasa-Shigatse railway line but will also have extended its rail network all the way to Dram (Chinese: Zhangmu) near Nepal’s border and also to Yadong (or Yatung, also called Dromo) in the strategically important Chumbi valley, near India’s border state of Sikkim. The Indian Express newspaper Feb 14 reported that this was confirmed by a Chinese Railways Ministry map, put out in Jan’11, showing China’s “long term railway network plan”.
The report said the map shows the railway line extending from Lhasa to Zhangmu, with possible eventual extension into Nepal and even Kathmandu. It added that under the plan, another line will branch out from Shigatse to move east, going right up to Yadong, on the mouth of the Chumbi Valley. This town is connected to Sikkim through the Nathu La pass and is strategically located on the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan, the report noted.
The report noted that areas near Yadong are still being disputed between Bhutan and China and that the area had witnessed military conflict in 1962 as part of Indian effort to defend Nathu La.
China had spoken about these and other major railway plans in or into Tibet, but had not yet put them on paper.
Again in (TibetanReview.net, Oct09, 2010)serious issues on Lhasa-Shigatse railway was reported:
(TibetanReview.net, Oct09, 2010) Touted as a project to further develop Tibet, the Lhasa-Shigatse extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, for which China began the actual building work on Sep 26, raises a host of technical, socio-economic, environmental, and geopolitical issues, according to The Economist Online (UK) Oct 7.
The report began by saying that in going ahead with the decision to build the railway line, the authorities appeared to have been undeterred by the problems that the railway had already brought to Lhasa where a tourism boom and a flood of immigrants from China’s interior contributed to an explosion of unrest among embittered Tibetans in Mar’08.
On the technical difficulties in building and maintaining the extension line, the report said that nearly half of it will go through tunnels or over bridges (96 of them). That it will cross areas prone to earthquakes, landslides and sand storms. And while the Golmud-Lhasa line had to traverse unstable permafrost, the Lhasa-Shigatse extension will be challenged by geothermal fields with hot springs. All this at an oxygen-starved altitude of 3,550-4,000 metres.
Even without the extension line and the upcoming airport, the opening of the Lhasa railway in 2006 led to the the number of tourists who visited the Tibetan side of Mt Everest, located in Shigatse, had almost doubled to 27,476 in 2007 from the preceding year. This has the environmentalists are worried.
The extension line is also a matter of concern to India, given the railway’s role in transporting troops and military equipment. It will also give China more leverage and influence over Nepal. China’s long-term plans to further extend the railway network to Nyalam on the border with Nepal and to Dromo near Bhutan and the Indian state of Sikkim and to Nyingtri, located close to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, claimed by China as southern Tibet, will only worsen the situation. Besides, Nepal has been repeatedly urging China to bring the railway right up to Kathmandu.
Shigatse itself is already a Chinese overwhelmed city. The report cited Tibet Business News, published from Lhasa, as saying that the majority of traders in Shigatse, Tibet’s second city, were already migrants from beyond Tibet. It was reported to cite a woman from neighbouring Sichuan Province as saying the railway would cut her costs of doing business in Shigatse by half. More Chinese like her will surely beeline for Shigatse and neighouring Tibetan towns as the Lhasa-Shigatse railway line progresses.
Again India's strategic concerns were raised on China's Tibet Railways and reported in TibetanReview.net, Jan 23, 2008 as under:
Thanks to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, China can now move 10,000 troops to the Indian border near Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in just about three weeks, down from 3-6 months a decade ago, reported the Indian Express newspaper Jan 6 in a front page article. Given this context, the Indian government’s high-profile China Study Group (CSG), which includes the Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and heads of intelligence agencies, has been asked to come up with recommendations for the Cabinet Committee on Security to counter the situation, the report said.
The report cited the Indian army’s fresh estimate that China can move up to two divisions (over 10,000 troops) in 20-25 days, the report said.
India had carried out a detailed exercise two decades ago on the Chinese threat and categorized threat levels into low, medium and high, depending on the number of troops Beijing could move, given the difficult terrain, the report noted. This has been revised periodically, with the most recent assessment being reported to be as follows:
“• Low-Level threat: This is an offensive with about two battalions. India’s earlier estimate was that it would take China 15 days to plan such a strike. This is now down to 7 days.
“• Medium-Level threat: This is an offensive with about two brigades. Earlier estimate was that this would take about 30 days for China. This is now down to 15 days.
“• High-level threat: This is what has got the government most concerned. This involves moving troops from hinterland China and about two divisions in total, which could take even up to two seasons (three to six months) depending on weather. This is now down to 20-25 days.”
This takes into account the improved road and rail infrastructure in Tibet, connecting it to mainland China. An initial assessment was reported to show that India had to construct 72 roads urgently to come anywhere near addressing the Chinese challenge. A CSG recommendation is reportedly being awaited for this purpose. Besides, China’s building of new airfields in and around Tibet was reported to pose a challenge to India to undertake similar works, including looking at the possibility of reactivating airfields like Chushul in Ladakh currently used only for chopper operations.
No comments:
Post a Comment