We heard much about the newly completed railway which in parts rest on subsoil permafrost and runs at altitudes higher than 5000 m above sea level. This new link for Tibet to the rest of China raises environmental and cultural concerns for some but for others it promises to bring much for the future development of Tibet. We found the train surprisingly ordinary. Perhaps the intention was not for a luxury style travel for tourists but economical transportation for the masses.
Nowadays China does everything in a big way. The massive Lhasa Station has a grand entrance hall . . .
. . . . . and an equally spacious plateform . . . .
. . . and very soft seats in the soft-seat lounge .
The locos looked surprisingly similar to the thousands all over China . . .
but the bus interchange was the biggest we have ever seen.
Inside, it was just like any other carriage, but neat and clean .
. . . with unusually modern wash basins . . .
. . . and bright dining cars which turned out to be more for the staff because we were eventually asked to leave so that they could have their dinner. After all it was the Workers' Paradise.
For all of us, the greatest comfort was from the oxygen enriched atmosphere.
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