The Qinghai-Tibet railway, the world’s highest line linking the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the rest of China, transported 1.5 million passengers to the Himalayan region in its first year, state press said Monday.
More than half of the 1.5 million passengers who rode the train to the Himalayan “roof of the world” since it went into operation on July 1, 2006 were tourists, Xinhua news agency said.
Chinese authorities see the 1,142-kilometre (710-mile) railway as an important tool in modernising and developing Tibet, which has been part of China since its troops occupied the region in 1950.
However, critics say that the line is allowing the Han Chinese, the national majority, to flood into Tibet, leading to the devastation of the local culture as well accelerating environmental degradation of the pristine region.
The railway climbs over a pass at 5,072 metres (16,737 feet) above sea level, making it the highest railway in the world.
According to the state-controlled press the railway helped push the Himalayan region’s economic growth to 13.2 percent in 2006, a 10-year high.
