Strategic Chinese railway route to link Tibet with Cheng du, Sichuan – Importance and background

By Prof. Ashok Tiku, Senior Analyst – Chinese Affairs

Recently, China announced to connect Tibet with another new railway line—the Sichuan-Tibet railway line to protect China’s borders. On the eve of starting the construction of this new route, the Chinese president said ( Xin Hua Nov 9) that the new route will be key to safeguarding China’s national unity and consolidating border stability and called for building the railway line expeditiously by “concentrating resources “ for its completion.

Recently China Railway announced the bidding results for the construction of two tunnels and one bridge as well as the power supply project for the Ya’an—Linzhi ( Ya’an-Nyingchi)  section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. This will be the second railway line connecting Tibet with China and will shorten the travel time to Lhasa from 48 hours to just 13 hours. The  Sichuan –Tibet railway line starts from Cheng du, the capital of Sichuan province, and the new addition  Ya’an-Nyinngchi section will be 1011 km long, includes 26 stations when completed-taking  Chinese railway right up to the disputed boundary with India.. The cost of the project is estimated at 319.8 billion yuan.

It would be interesting to recall that China started the railway survey of linking Lhasa with China in the late 1980s and the survey team had submitted three links for railway connectivity with Tibet.:

1. Connecting Lhasa with Chengdu, Si-Zang railway

2. Connecting Lhasa with Kunming, Yun-Zang railway

3. Connecting Lhasa with Germu, Qing-Zang railway

The expert committee had recommended 1st and 2nd option for Connecting Lhasa with China as against the Qing-Zang railway 3rd option, as these two options were short cuts, Cheaper and easier to build but the then  CMC did not approve it on security considerations arguing that these railway lines were running close to the Indian Border, would pose a security challenge and hence preferred the circuitous, the longest, costliest as well as the hazardous route that passes through high altitude point of 5072 M, for safety and security concerns to connect Lhasa with Germu along the. Qing –Zang line

Chengdu has always served as a vital gateway city to Tibet in southwest China. Currently, the supplies from Chengdu to Lhasa come via Chengdu- Lhasa train (Z322), covering 3070km across 5 provinces, with a total duration of 36:18hrs. Now this distance can be covered by this short direct route train in 13 hrs only. The new Line Passes through LinZhi located close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.

Qing-Lhasa line 1956 km long ( Xi Ning-Germu 815 km, Germu-Lhasa 1142 km) opened in 2006 and has now been extended to Shigaze (280 km) to link later with,  Yadong, and Kathmandu and finally to Lumbini close to the India-Nepal border. The project planned in 2008 is now expected to be completed in 2025 but construction costs (US$ 300 million) remain a worry as the line faces hurdles because of the terrain. The proposed Kerung-Kathmandu linkup is part of the BRI project entering Nepal in the Rasuwan district and eventually links it with India. The feasibility report for this additional link was prepared in late 2018 and technically a tough project as 98% of the line in Nepal passes through tunnels and bridges with about five stations. Tracks are to be built on steep terrain and the line climbs from an altitude of 1400M in Kathmandu to 4000M in Tibet, costing 28 B  yuan. Although only one-third of the total length falls on the Nepal side, it had to account for half the costs due to difficult terrain conditions in Nepal. It was supposed to reach Kerung (Tibet) by 2020 but has supposedly got delayed and has been pushed to 2025.

The Nepal-China cross-border railway was listed as part of the trans-Himalayan connectivity network at the BRI forum Beijing (April 2019). The cost and profitability of the project is a cause of concern as Nepal has a trade deficit with China of $12.8 (2019) equal to nearly half of Nepal’s GDP. Nepal’s exports to China fell by 30% (2019) and the train will have to run practically empty from Nepal unless India also joins this network.

The new railway route linking Lhasa with Cheng du is strategical of utmost importance facilitating speedy mobility of forces from Cheng du to Tibet and other border regions near the Indian border. President Xi’s intervention to expedite construction reflects the importance China attaches to this project. However, what is worth noting is that China had earlier warned India and expressed concern about building the Twang railway link (1-4-2017) linking twang with the Indian railway network.

About the author:

Prof. Ashok Tiku, Former HOD, Amity School of Languages, Amity University Gurgaon is an authority on Chinese affairs with over 45 years of experience as an analyst. Born in Srinagar, Prof. Tiku did his Masters from Peking University, Beijing, and lived in China for 10 years.