Qinghai-Tibet Railway (Lhasa Express)

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, completed in 2006, runs from Xining to Lhasa through some of the most extreme terrain traversed by any rail line on earth. The journey takes between 21 and 24 hours, covering 1,956 kilometres across the Tibetan Plateau, crossing the Kunlun and Tang-La ranges and spending hours at altitudes above 4,500 metres. Xining Railway Station is the eastern terminus and the embarkation point for the famous train.

The train journey itself is a significant experience — the landscape seen from the windows shifts from the farmland valleys around Xining to open plateau grassland, frozen lakes, and mountain ranges. Wildlife including Tibetan antelopes and kiang can often be spotted from the windows. Soft sleeper tickets are the practical choice for the overnight journey; book well in advance during summer months. A Tibet travel permit is required for the Lhasa-bound portion.

things to do sight
A story
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses the Kunlun Mountains at 4,772 metres — the highest rail tunnel in the world — and reaches its apex at Tanggula Pass at 5,072 metres, making it the highest railway on earth. The carriages are pressurised and supplied with supplemental oxygen. Engineers had to develop entirely new techniques to build track on permanently frozen ground (permafrost) that shifts with the seasons. When it opened in 2006 it was called the greatest engineering feat since the Trans-Siberian Railway.