[:en]Shanghai to Lhasa train trip[:]

By skyangelo
This post is part of the series Tibet trip
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[:en]

Family trip to Tibet in 2007

We took the train from Shanghai to Lhasa, Tibet.  (P.S. You will need to apply a Tibet Travel Permit).
It takes approximately 3 days by train and the trip itself in the train is a special experience/journey!
The total distance is 4373 km and the difference of altitude is more than 5000 m!
The terminus, Lhasa, is at 3650 m altitude.

Below is the altitude change along the railway line.

tibet_train_altitude© Tibet Travel

There are 3 type of coaches:

  •            1. first-class soft sleeper with 4 beds  (2 levels) in the compartiment with a door
  •             2. hard sleep with 6 beds (3 levels) in the compartiment without door
  •             3. hard seat (not really recommended for tourists)

We booked the hard sleep compartment for 4 of us as it’s easier to get and there is no difference in term of the bed quality in the first two classes (just more sleeping space for the soft sleeper).

The Shanghai to Tibet railway line was officially started by Oct 1st 2006 and we had the chance to take the train journey almost one year later. Indeed, we saw a lot of construction work along the railway.

The train embeds quite a lot of technology as from Xining to Lhasa, it travels across the “roof of the world” with the highest railway pass at 5072 m and highest tunnel at 4905 m. It needs to deal with geographical and climat difficulties (e.g. permafrost) and the lack of oxygen. There are oxygen outlet available for individual use and there is an automatic oxygen regulation  & enrichment system in the cars.
It’s the world’s highest railway. 🚞

Some photos of the hard sleeper coach of the train:

The dinning car provides traditional Chinese food and the staff do not really speak English…
There were really not much choices for vegetarians…. I think I just took  🍚  and 🍳 .
The French-speaking family behind me in the dinning car was coming from Belgium and the daughter spoke very fluent Chinese. We had a nice little chat with them in French. I always feel amazing when foreigners can speak relatively good Chinese after only 1 or 2 years of study.

The scenery of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is beautiful with a lot of contrast from one place to another.
Fortunately, nobody suffered from the altitude sickness (which is not the case once we arrived in Lhasa!).

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