Page 221 - Udaan 2019-2021 Final

Bombardier transportation built 361 high-altitude

passenger carriages with special oxygen – enriched and UV
protected facilities. 53 of the 361 are luxury sleeper carriages

for tourists with large vista view windows and a dining car.
It’s a journey of a lifetime.

Open Date -1 July, 2006
st
Starting Point- Xining
Ending Point- Lhasa

Interesting facts- Xining-Golmund
tracks are on firm ground and
Golmund-Lhasa in permafrost area.

The plastic ticket given for the journey

An hour after the journey started the first marvel to come by
was the turquoise-azure blue watered Qinghai Lake running

parallel to the rail tracks for several kilometres. The sense of
barren beauty is the most profound in this region as the

mountains are devoid of any major vegetation except grass.
Traversing plains, mountain ranges ,rivers and lakes,

grasslands of Amdo,densely populated cities like Xining,
Golmund and the desolate Gobi, the scenery along the Lhasa

railway is majestic and of various types. The altitude rises to

16,000 ft. at points and on an average passes through
altitude of above 12,000 ft.

Qinghai Lake, Kunlun mountains, Tanggula, Hoh Xil nature
reserve, origin of the Yangtze River, etc. with the rare wildlife

like the Tibetan antelopes, Yaks, and Tibetan folk houses
and prayer flags, and mani stones, they reward tourists with

lifelong unforgettable memories.