Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway

Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway refers to the railway starts from Lhasa and ends at Nyingchi via Nedong, Langxian and Milin County. Stretches along the famous Lhasa River, Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway has a total length of 440 kilometers.

Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is one of the three branch lines (Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, Lhasa-Shigatse Railway, Lhasa-Yadong Railway) of the world famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Both Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway and Lhasa-Yadong Railway are under planning while the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway is under construction. It is reported that the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway will be put into operation in 2014, and the construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will be started in 2014.

Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is also a part of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway under planning. Sichuan-Tibet Railway under planning has a total length around 1900 kilometers, among which the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway takes a length of 435 kilometers. A total investment around 130 billion Chinese Yuan is planning to be put into the construction of Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway. The construction of Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is planning to be completed in 6 years. Tourists making a Tibet tour could get to Shannan in less than one hour and it will take only about 2 hours to get to Nyingchi after the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is put into operation.

The construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will complete and optimize the Tibet railway net and provide convenience for both local Tibetans and tourists from different corners of the world. Currently, the railway transportation is not available in Nyingchi Prefecture and the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will be the first railway in Nyingchi. Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will improve the laggard transportation in eastern Tibet dramatically and inject new vitality to the local economy development. Nyingchi will be linked with inland regions/cities in west China after the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway in connection with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Currently, tourists planning to travel to Nyingchi only have two choices in transportation. Most visitors would land on Lhasa firstly and then travel to Nyingchi by air or by vehicle while the others would like to land on Nyingchi vy air directly. It should be noted that the direct flight to Nyingchi Milin Airport is only available in Chengdu and Chongqing so far. Tourists driving to Nyingchi from Lhasa should note that careful driving is quite important for such a long journey. In addition, the section at Mila Mountain Pass might be a little slippery in the cold weather for its high altitude.

With rich tourism resources, Nyingchi is an important ecotourism area on Tibet Plateau. The number of tourists travel to Nyingchi keeps rising in recent years. To promote the tourism in winter, the scenic spots and hotels carried out a series of preferential policy for tourists both at home and abroad. Tourists visiting Nyingchi before the end of February could get a 50 percent discount in the entrance ticket of the scenic spots. In addition, the hotels also offer a 40-60 percent discount for visitors come here in the winter season. Nyingchi is suitable for sightseeing all year around, the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will certainly bring more tourists to Nyingchi. There is no doubt that Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway will greatly promote the development of the local economy.