Lhasa West Railway Station

With an altitude of 3924 meters, Lhasa West Railway Station is located in Doilung Deqen County in Lhasa City, Tibet. It was officially put into operation on July 1st, 2006. Managed by Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, Lhasa West Railway Station is the largest freight station along Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Brief Introduction of Lhasa West Railway Station

The operation of Lhasa West Railway Station was based on the regular operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Lhasa West Railway Station enjoys a freight yard of 0.32 million square meters. It mainly collects and distributes the goods transported to Lhasa from other domestic regions, such as the articles for daily use, building materials, electronic products and so on. The input volume is much larger than the output volume at present. In 2012, Lhasa West Railway Station has dispatched 83 tons of goods and received 280 tons of goods in 2012.

The railway transportation has larger transportation capacity and lower cost compared to the air freight transportation and the highway freight transportation. In addition, the railway transportation is less influenced by the climate condition or some other natural conditions. Tibet enjoys a special geographical condition and has a quite complicated climate. The railway freight transportation plays important role in the material supply in Tibet and the expansion of Lhasa West Railway Station is of great significance for local Tibetans.

Expansion of Lhasa West Railway Station

Lhasa West Railway Station is the collection and distribution center of the articles for daily use and agricultural and sideline products. Most of these products would be distributed to different regions in Tibet from here. According to the head of Lhasa West Railway Station, two new cargo track and arrival-departure track will be opened to further improve the transport capacity. The cargo track will extend to Shigatse after the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway was completed and put into operation. Then the goods will be transported to Shigatse by train directly after re-marshalling in Lhasa West Railway Station. It will provide great convenience for the businessmen in Shigatse and greatly cut down their freight shipping budget.

Currently, Lhasa West Railway Station has 5 cargo tracks. With the increasing of the freight volume, the original freight facilities could not meet the demand any more. Hence, Lhasa West Railway Station will be expanded and two new cargo track and arrival-departure track will be opened to promote the development of this freight station.

Lhasa West Railway Station and Lhasa-Shigatse Railway

With a length of 253 kilometers, Lhasa-Shigatse Railway is under construction. 82.3 kilometers of railway track has been laid till the end of 2012. The complement and operation of the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway will completely change the highway-only transportation pattern in southwestern Tibet. It is reported that the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway is expected to be completed in the end of 2013 or early in 2014. The operation of Lhasa-Shigatse Railway will bring great convenience for both local Tibetans and tourists planning a Tibet tour to Shigatse.

To better meet the customers' freight transportation demand, Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company opened the internet freight transportation e-commerce platform. Lhasa West Railway Station is in charge of the relevant examination work, such as the business license of the customers, the organization code certificate, business entity and the certificates of the operator and so on. Customers could manage the related freight transportation business on the internet conveniently.