Qinghai–Tibet Railway

The Qinghai–Tibet railway, Qinghai–Xizang railway or Qingzang railway (Standard Tibetan: mtsho bod lcags lam མཚོ་བོད་ལྕགས་ལམ།; simplified Chinese: 青藏铁路; traditional Chinese: 青藏鐵路; pinyin: Qīngzàng Tiělù), is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the People's Republic of China.

The length of the railway is 1,956 km (1,215 mi). Construction of the 815 km (506 mi) section between Xining and Golmud was completed by 1984. The 1,142 km (710 mi) section between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on July 1, 2006, by Chinese President Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were "Qing 1" (Q1) from Xinin to Golmud, and "Zang 2" (J2) golmud to Lhasa. This railway is the first to connect the Tibet Autonomous Region to any other province, which, due to its elevation and terrain, is the last province-level entity in mainland China to have a railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on 1 May 2006. Passenger trains run from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xining, and Lanzhou.