Travel to Tibet on Train

Lhasa Express
The "Sky Train", "Lhasa Express", "Rocket to the rooftop of the world", "World's highest railway"; regardless of what its called, This qinghai tibet train is truly an engineering wonder.

The train is equipped with 2 Oxygen sources, 1) released throughout the cabins when reaching Golmund and heading into Tibet and 2) Personal Oxygen Canisters in case you feel light headed and only available from Tibet to Golmund or from Golmund to Tibet (see tibet train oxygen).

Between Xining and Golmud the tracks pass by Qinghai Lake - China's largest. But it's the Golmud-to-Lhasa sector which offers the most breath-taking scenery. That segment also offers the record-breakers: the world's highest passenger railroad (at Tanggula Pass - elevation: 16,640 ft.; 5072m) and the world's highest railroad tunnel (Fenghuoshan - elevation: 16,093 ft.; 4905m). Over 80% of the journey is at altitudes above 13,000 feet; fully half the track on this sector was laid atop permafrost.

Qingzang Railway is the first railway in China to use the Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) for enhanced train control. Train stations with this system installed does not need signaling device or rail track circuitry. Instead, only the railroad switch devices are implemented. ITCS combines automatic block, train station interlock control, and train speeding control in one package, controlling the train when it stops at or passes through the station or when it is performing other related activities.

The wireless network system implemented is for the automatic backup of ITCS System Event Log when the train enters the station. Qingzang Railway has 78 locomotives in total. Each locomotive is equipped with one ORing TAR-120, while the train station control center is also equipped with one ORing TAR-120 – for a total of 79 TAR-120s used. On each locomotive, the TAR-120 is connected to the DVR that records the ITCS System Event Log. When the train enters the station, the TAR-120 on the locomotive communicates with the TAR-120 in the train station control center, and the ITCS System Event Log would be successfully uploaded to the train station control center.