CCTV (October 7) reported that Nyingchi, located in the south-eastern region of Tibet, was in
the past not connected by railway and it took 10 hours to drive from Nyingchi to Lhasa. Now,
a "Plateau Xintian Road" connects Lhasa and Nyingchi. The designed speed of the Lalin
Railway is 160 kilometres per hour, and the shortest running time from Lhasa to Nyingchi is
only 3 hours and 29 minutes. It added that an important part of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, the
construction of the Lalin Line is unprecedentedly difficult: mountainous areas, plateaus,
crossing the Brahmaputra many times, a large number of bridges and tunnels, and complex
geological conditions. It observed that 'General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance
to the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. He pointed out that the planning and
construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway is a major measure to promote the development of
Tibet and improve people's livelihood'. The report noted that there are more than 100 bridges
on this 435.48-kilometer line, and the length of bridges accounts for more than 20% of the total
length of the line. 'It is the most economical choice to build a railway in the mountainous area
along the river valley. Therefore, the Lalin Railway has crossed the Brahmaputra 16 times'. It
said by the end of 2021, the navigable mileage of China's inland waterways will reach 128,000
kilometres; there will be 20,867 berths for production, including 2,659 berths of 10,000-ton
and above, basically forming world-class port groups such as the Yangtze River Delta, TianjinHebei, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
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