Chengdu to Lhasa in 44 hours

Tibet is a mysterious place. For centuries, gigantic mountains make land travel into this magical land a nightmare. Qinghai-Tibet Railway or Qingzang Railway (青藏铁路) was opened in year 2007. Despite the ease of air travel to Lhasa, the railway remains a popular choice for visitors who want to marvel this mega engineering project in modern history.

The year was 2014, we flew in to Chengdu (成都) in Sichuan Province. We decided to embark on this train journey from Chengdu. The total distance was more than 3200km of railway, passing through five provinces (Sichuan 四川 , Sha’anxi 陕西, Gansu 甘肃 , Qinghai 青海 , Tibet or Xizang 西藏), with a total journey time of 44 hours.

Boarding the train @Chengdu

We bought the “Soft Sleeper” class, which was equivalent to first class of the train. We were given the access to “VIP Lounge” while waiting for the train. The soft sleeper cabin had 2-double decked bunks. Each soft sleeper cabin could accommodate four persons with a lockable door.

The train departed ex-Chengdu on time at 8.45pm. It was pitch dark after we left the urban area. The train only stopped at major railway stations.

The next morning when we woke up, we realized we had entered the province of Sha’anxi. The train was about to stop at the second station, Baoji (宝鸡), on schedule at about 7.30am. We had been on the train for almost 12 hours by then.

Breakfast @Baoji Station

The stop was about 20 minutes. There were stalls selling various local food. Time for breakfast!

The mighty river

The train left Baoji Station and headed for Lanzhou (兰州) ， the capital of Gansu Province. There were villages and lush countryside along the way. We reached Lanzhou at about 2pm. Time for lunch!

Lunch @Lanzhou Station

Loess Plateau (黄土高原) in Gansu Province

Rail Stewardess, Restaurant on board

The ride continued, next stop will be Xining West Station, the actual starting point of the epic Qingzang Railway.

Xining is the capital of Qinghai, a province that is named after the nearby largest salt in China.

Pasture around Qinghai Lake

The actual starting point of Qingzang Railway is Xining (西宁) in Qinghai Province. The total length is 1956km, with 960km of its rail track is built on permafrost land. It has 45 stations along the way, 25 of them have an elevation of above 4000m, with the highest point at Tangla a.k.a Tanggula (唐古拉) Station (5072m)。

The train left Xining West Station at about 7pm, we still enjoyed a little bit of light from the dusk outside. We had dinner in the restaurant on board. The food was good, beyond our expectation and fairly inexpensive.

Sunset @Qinghai Plateau

By the time we reach Golmud (格尔木) Station, it was midnight. I took a walk on the station platform, it was freezing cold. The chill woke me up to the core. I kept my camera on standby while waiting for the first ray of light of the dawn.

Hello Tibet!

Strong contrast of colors of the land and sky

It was really a beautiful morning! We were greeted by the warm and smiley sun.

Farm Produce Processing Plant

It was a 9 hours non-stop train journey from Golmud of Qinghai to Nagqu (那曲) of Tibet. All we could do was just to sit back and relax.

Arid soil but rich in colour

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High, Tech

Infrastructure supporting the rail corridor

Ghostly barren

We could feel the train was gaining elevation. Fortunately the train was pressurized, that helped to reduce the effect of altitude sickness.

A small town by an icy river

Cutting through the frozen land

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The hard working train

Hoh Xil a.k.a. Kekexili Wetland 可可西里湿地

After 9 hour non stop, the train could finally pit stop at Nagqu, one of the major logistic hub along the railway.

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Moving pictures outside the window frame

The last leg of the journey began after a short break in Nagqu. We were both excited and feeling lost..

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Finally we were approaching the destination, Lhasa

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Potala Palace in far sight

It had been a long but scenic journey. During the long ride, we had ever wished we could reach the destination earlier. At times, boredom kicked in. The beautiful scenery could be eye-numbing and just make people take it for granted.

When I look back, the train journey was truly an unforgettable experience. It seems like a mission impossible to build and operate this sky road to heaven. Simply incredible!

A new railway from Chengdu to Lhasa is under construction since 2014, expected to fully operational by 2030. It will be a more direct, shorter railway, cutting distance between the two places to about 1600km and journey time down to 15 hours.

I will definitely take that train when it is opened!