Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Become a Plateau Ecological Railway

Relevant State departments and the Tibet Autonomous Region, on the basis of listening to experts' opinions, are adopting a series of measures to ensure that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with its construction soon to begin, will become China's first plateau ecological railway.

Li Ning, deputy director of the first Survey and Design Institute under the Ministry of Railways, who is in charge of the surveying and designing tasks of the whole line of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, told the reporters that while designing the routing of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the planning for ecological environmental protection is also being carried out simultaneously.

It is disclosed that the program for appraising the environmental influence of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway's first-phase project had recently passed experts' appraisal. The Tibet-based coordinate leading group supporting construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with Leque, chairman of the autonomous region, as the group leader, is working in vigorous coordination with railway departments to do the designing and planning work well.

Currently, the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government is consulting matters with relevant experts from the Ministry of Railways, striving to adopt the most advanced plateau railway construction technology of today's world to solve the difficult technological and ecological problems encountered in the process, so as to ensure that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, when completed, will become a green ecological corridor worthy of its name.

Since the beginning of this year, related experts with the Ministry of Railways have entered Tibet many times to consult with relevant Tibetan departments concerning matters such as the tackling of difficult technological problems and environmental protection in the ecological areas where the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will pass through, and formulate concrete measures. According to the plan, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will pass through three major ecological regions, respectively, they are the Gobi desert belt with acute shortage of rainfall; high elevation and perennial frozen soil areas and belts enjoying better natural conditions. Only the last area where ecological protection is relatively easy.

Li Ning said that in light of these ecological regions, experts have respectively worked out their ecological programs. The Gobi desert belts will be gradually turned into large areas of shelter belts so as to form railway protective belts that integrate forest with grass; in the construction in frozen soil regions, designing procedures will be strictly implemented, damage of the heat balance of frozen soil is strictly prohibited.

Reports say that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will run through the sources of the three rivers (Yellow, Yangtze and Lancangjiang rivers), Qiangtang and other State-level nature reserves, railway influence on wild animals is a matter of prime importance.

Central and local governments will organize experts to study the living law and migratory orientation of wild animals in order to reserve migratory passageways for these animals; in nature reserves, planning for railway construction will be conducted in accordance with the principle of "bypassing where it is possible"; the protection of water bodies in the sources of the aforesaid three rivers and the prevention of ecological disasters easily caused by construction are also the main points to be considered in planning.

In addition, the Tibet Autonomous Region will join experts of the railway department to draw up strict stipulations and restrictions in relation to construction of the entire railway, resolutely preventing the occurrence of such phenomena as damaging the ecology as a result of indiscriminate exploitation and mining. In order to protect the vegetation, the method of vegetation transplanting and sectional construction will be adopted for railway construction, so as to reduce the loss of surface vegetation to the minimum; in sections south of Kunlun Mountain where natural conditions are fairly good, the variety of grass suitable for growth in plateau will be carefully selected and artificial spraying, coating and other techniques will be employed in order to restore the surface vegetation.






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