Chapter 97 1. World-class plateau railway

This is a group of poems praising the Qinghai-Tibet Railway published in People's Daily on July 18, 2006. At about 11:00 on July 1, 2006, the entire Qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened to traffic, and the two trains "Qing 1" and "Tibet 2" entering and leaving Tibet were separated from each other.The first train to Tibet from Beijing to Lhasa departed on the evening of July 1. There is now an unimpeded steel artery between Beijing and Lhasa. Beijing and Lhasa have realized the transportation connection of "car, plane and train". More than 1,300 years ago, Princess Wencheng set off from Chang'an, the capital at that time, and it took nearly three years to arrive in Lhasa.

On December 25, 1954, the Qinghai-Tibet and Kham-Tibet highways were officially opened to traffic. On May 26, 1956, the route from Beijing to Lhasa was successfully tested. On July 1, 2006, the entire line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened to traffic, and the train departed from Beijing to Lhasa. From "exploring the road" to "having the road", the history of the "Road to Heaven" on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has spanned more than 1,300 years. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway has a total length of 1,956 kilometers from Xining to Lhasa, of which 814 kilometers from Xining to Golmud was completed in 1979 and put into operation in 1984.The Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which was newly constructed, starts from Golmud City in Qinghai Province in the north, passes through Nachitai, Wudaoliang, Tuotuo River, and Yanshiping, crosses Tanggula Mountain, and then passes through Amdo, Nagqu, Dangxiong, and Yangyang in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Eight wells, arrived at the destination Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the plateau railway with the highest altitude and the longest line in the world. It is extremely cold and anoxic, the geology is complex, and the permafrost is widely distributed along the line. The project is very difficult.The construction of such a railway is not only a test of China's comprehensive strength and scientific and technological strength, but also a challenge to the limits of human beings.The completion and operation of this railway has greatly facilitated the communication between Tibet and the inland, and it is like a link that closely connects Tibet and the inland.

Across thousands of mountains and ravines, through the wilderness, thousands of miles of giant dragons, eternal monuments.Today, no matter in the vast and desolate northern Tibetan plateau, or in the pink and willow green Lhasa River Valley; whether in the remote herdsman's tent, or in the noisy bustling city, you can feel the impact brought by the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to the development of Tibet everywhere. The changes to come, the good news to the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet. It was Sun Yat-sen who first proposed the construction of the Tibet Railway.During the May 4th Movement, Sun Yat-sen published the famous "Founding Strategy" with nearly 200,000 words.In the "Industrial Plan" of this book, seven major railway systems including the "Northwest Railway" and "Plateau Railway" were planned, with a total of 106 railway lines covering about 100,000 kilometers. The "Plateau Railway" system has a total of 16 main railway lines planned, among which the Lhasa-Lanzhou line and the Lanzhou-Ruoqiang line pass through the east, south, west, and north of present-day Qinghai Province, leading to Tibet in the southwest and Xinjiang in the northwest.

From 1943 to 1945, the national government successively sent Li Yan, chief engineer of Longhai Railway Bureau, engineer Song Mengyu, route selection engineer Liu Baoshan and others to lead a team to survey the Gansu-Qingdao Railway, wrote a "draft survey report", and drew a section map. Part of the specific work on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway's base section of the Gansu-Qinghai Railway was implemented. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qinghai-Tibet transportation has entered a new period of historical development. Tibet is a land full of affection from Zhongnanhai, a land that has made contributions to the country and received great support from the country.From Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin as the core of the three generations of the party's central leadership to the party's central committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as the general secretary, they have always cared about the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and always cared about the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

In the early 1950s, the party and the state began to study the construction of the railway to Tibet. In October 1955, the then Northwest Design Bureau (now the First Survey and Design Institute of the Ministry of Railways) sent four comrades, including Cao Ruzhen and Liu Deji, to Tibet together with General Mu Shengzhong, the deputy director of the logistics department of the Tibet Military Region, to build the railway into Tibet. Feasibility survey and data collection work along the line, that is, "reconnaissance", which lasted nearly 3 months. In 1955, under the care of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway also kicked off at the same time as the construction of the Gansu-Qingdao Railway.The Qinghai-Tibet Railway runs from the ancient city of Xining to Lhasa. It is a national-level railway line. Its high altitude, harsh environment, complex technology, and difficult construction are rare in the history of railways in China and the world.The designed total length of the railway is more than 2,040 kilometers, more than 1,400 kilometers in Qinghai, accounting for about 70% of the total length.Due to Tibet's special geographical environment and road construction technical issues such as plateaus and permafrost that have yet to be resolved, the construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has been suspended.

In 1973, when Mao Zedong met with King Birendra of Nepal, he said: "The Qinghai-Tibet Railway cannot be repaired, and I can't sleep." He firmly said that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will be built, and it will go to Lhasa. In 1974, the central government once again put the construction of the Tibet Railway on the agenda.In accordance with the instructions of the higher authorities, the First Railway Academy conducted surveys in the second quarter of the year, and carried out aerial surveys and program research in the fourth quarter. In January 1976, the "Research Report on the Golmud-Lhasa Section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway" was completed.At the end of the same year, the preliminary design of the line system was completed and submitted to the Ministry of Railways for approval. In May 1977, the State Planning Commission approved the approval, and the Ministry of Railways issued a formal reply. In June 1977, the No. 1 Railway Institute launched a full-scale measurement work.By July 1978, the fixed piles had been driven to Nagqu, which is less than 400 kilometers away from Lhasa.But soon after, the second survey work was ordered to stop.

Deng Xiaoping attached great importance to the development of transportation in Tibet and always paid attention to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.In the early days of peaceful liberation, he personally directed the survey and repair work of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. In 1983, when Deng Xiaoping was listening to the report on the work of the Tibet Autonomous Region, he asked about the situation of the railway to Tibet, and specifically instructed that "it is better to take the Qinghai-Tibet line", and his concern was palpable. In May 1984, the Xining-Golmud section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was officially opened to traffic.

On November 10, 2000, Jiang Zemin issued an instruction in the Ministry of Railways report on the construction of the railway to Tibet: the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway is very necessary, and we should make up our minds to start construction as soon as possible.This is a major decision we should make in the new century, and it will definitely inspire people of all ethnic groups in the country, including the cadres and masses in Tibet. On June 29, 2001, the long-awaited Qinghai-Tibet Railway started construction in Golmud and Lhasa at the same time. Jiang Zemin sent warm congratulatory letters to all the cadres and workers participating in the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

On May 27, 2002, Hu Jintao, who was inspecting and working in Qinghai, made a special trip to the construction site of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Nanshankou Construction Section at an altitude of 3,080 meters. On October 12, 2005, General Secretary Hu Jintao sent a letter of congratulations on the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and sincere condolences to all the builders. On July 1, 2006, General Secretary Hu Jintao made a special trip to Golmud to attend the opening ceremony of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and delivered a speech. He spoke highly of the achievements made in the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and profoundly explained the significance of the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in promoting China's modernization.General Secretary Hu Jintao personally cut the ribbon for the first passenger train to Tibet, and made a special trip to inspect along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

On March 5, 2007, General Secretary Hu Jintao emphasized when participating in the deliberation of the Tibetan delegation during the "two sessions" of the country: the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the main artery of the snow-covered plateau, provided a historic opportunity for Tibet's development, opening up, and economic and social development .It is necessary to firmly grasp and make good use of this historic opportunity, plan development with brand-new ideas, maximize the huge development potential of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, maximize the powerful radiation effect of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and make the Qinghai-Tibet Railway better serve the people. Promote Tibet's economic and social development, and serve the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.