【Editor's Note】 This is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the "third pole of the world" and the place of the limit of survival. There is a railway, which embodies the dreams of several generations of new China, highlights the indomitable spirit of the Chinese nation, and writes a glorious chapter in the history of China's railway construction. Building roads, building dreams, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is like a steel dragon crossing Kunlun, crossing the snowy plateau, and winding forward with the deep friendship of the people of the whole country...
Although the simple Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the Sichuan-Tibet Highway have been built, the cost of material transportation is also quite amazing. It is recorded that almost half of a truck of gasoline sent to Lhasa from the beginning of the two roads will be consumed by the car itself as fuel. And because the road conditions are not good, the transportation of materials is often blocked, and even casualties occur. The snowy plateau requires a large amount of railways.
Let the railroad climb the Himalayas
In order to strengthen communication between Tibet and the interior and promote Tibet's social and economic development, soon after Tibet's peaceful liberation, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council began to consider the issue of building a railway into Tibet.
On March 9, 1955, premier Zhou Enlai presided over the seventh meeting of the State Council and stressed that in order to develop, it is necessary to build roads. At this meeting, the Decision of the State Council on The Transportation Issue in Tibet was discussed and adopted. Since then, the railway has climbed the Himalayas and become the immortal belief, eternal goal and persistent pursuit of generations of party and state leaders and Chinese railway builders.
The picture shows the construction of the Guanjiao Tunnel of the first phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Remake: Sun Jian
In 1956, the Ministry of Railways officially undertook the preliminary planning of the railway into Tibet and began to carry out survey and design work. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway officially appeared on the agenda of national railway construction.
In 1958, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway took a historic step. The Xining-Golmud section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was started in key sections such as Xining and the Guanjiaoshan Tunnel at an altitude of 3,700 meters, and was successively constructed by the 7th And 10th Division of the Railway Corps. At the same time, the preparatory work for the Golmud to Lhasa section is also in full swing. To this end, the State Council approved the establishment of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Engineering Bureau, with General Mu Shengzhong as its director and Sun Xiaozhong, a veteran soldier of the Red Army, as its deputy director.
However, due to the limited financial resources of the state at that time and the construction investment was stretched, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway had to be forced to stop. In June 1960, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Engineering Bureau was abolished. In March 1961, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was suspended.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway started construction for the second time
Although the Qinghai-Tibet Railway pressed the pause button, the party and state leaders always took the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to heart. The vast number of railway builders firmly believe that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will be built one day, and all kinds of research and scientific research work have never stopped.
In 1973, at the National Planning Conference, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was once again put on the agenda, and it was planned that the Khargai-Golmud section of the Sige section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway would resume construction.
The picture shows that when the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was built through the Qarkhan Salt Lake, the railway troops were welcomed by the people of all ethnic groups along the line Remake: Sun Jian
On December 9 of the same year, Chairman Mao Zedong met with King Birendra of Nepal in Beijing. Chairman Mao proposed that China would build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which would not only lead to Lhasa, but also to Nepal, leading directly to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
On January 31, 1974, the State Construction Commission submitted to the central leadership preliminary opinions on the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, mainly to restart construction in 1974, and it was planned to be completed and opened to Lhasa from 1983 to 1985; the construction task was undertaken by the Railway Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Li Xiannian, then vice premier of the State Council, gave instructions in the report: "It seems that the time has taken a little longer, can it be accelerated?" Premier Zhou Enlai, who was already seriously ill at the time, also issued an important instruction: "Agree to read comrade's opinion first." Under the four words "whether it can be accelerated", he drew heavy arrows and pointed to the drawings on the report, asking for speeding up the progress and striving to complete it ahead of schedule.
Under the great attention of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and after careful arrangements by the State Planning Commission, the State Construction Commission, and the Ministry of Railways, the Construction of the Sige section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was officially resumed in 1974.
The picture shows the track laying of the first phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project to golmud celebration Remake: Sun Jian
In April 1974, shortly after the official resumption of construction of the Sige section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Premier Zhou Enlai, who paid great attention to the construction of the qinghai-Tibet railway, told the relevant person in charge of the railway construction: "The deputies of the people's congress in the border areas strongly demand that the railway be connected, and you must hurry up the qinghai-Tibet line." Although there is still a gap between our economic strength and scientific and technological level, I believe that as long as we have determination, we Communists will not be able to do anything. 5 years is not enough, 10 years, 15 years? Premier Zhou Enlai also gave instructions on solving the problem of permafrost on plateaus: "We must draw on advanced international experience, but also persist in actual analysis of the actual situation, and we must train our own first-class frozen soil experts to solve the problem." At the same time, the scientific research, survey and design work of the Gera section has also been carried out intensively, and relatively adequate preparations have been made for the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
On November 28, 1977, the party group of the Ministry of Railways and the party committee of the railway corps jointly submitted to the State Council and the Central Military Commission the "Report on Requesting Instructions on Slowing the Construction of the Golmud-Lhasa Section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Construction of the Kunming-Lhasa Section Of the Railway", explaining the reasons from the aspects of overcoming technical problems in the permafrost of the plateau, the huge economic investment required for railway construction, and the life safety guarantee of the officers and men of the Railway Corps.
During this period, a situation of coexistence of various railway schemes into Tibet along the Qinghai-Tibet Line, the Yunnan-Tibet Line, and the Sichuan-Tibet Line appeared. On July 3, 1978, in order to provide a timely basis for decision-making, after several months of research and demonstration, Duan Junyi, then minister of railways, Chen Zaidao, commander of the railway corps, and Lu Zhengcao, political commissar, jointly submitted the "Report on requesting instructions on the railway into Tibet" to the State Council and the Central Military Commission. The report details the advantages and disadvantages of the Qinghai-Tibet Line, the Sichuan-Tibet Line, and the Yunnan-Tibet Line, as well as the opinions of the Kunming Military Region, the Yunnan Provincial CPC Committee, the Chengdu Military Region, the Sichuan Provincial CPC Committee, and the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee. On 5 July, Deng Xiaoping gave instructions on the report that it would be better for the railway into Tibet to select the Yunnan-Tibet line and that the Qinghai-Tibet line should be abandoned, and suggested that the State Planning Commission conduct a special examination and make a report to the central authorities for decision-making.
The picture shows the zero kilometer from Xining, the starting point of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Remake: Sun Jian
As a result of this period, the Xining-Golmud section was rolled out in September 1979. On May 1, 1984, the Sige section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was officially put into operation, and the train drove to Golmud, the new City of Gobi. The opening of the railway has brought benefits to the local people is self-evident, adding new impetus to the economic development of Qinghai Province. (China Tibet Network Reporter/Sun Jian Some of the content is referenced from "Carrying the Train to Tibet", "Century Heavenly Road - Qinghai-Tibet Railway Tour", "Qinghai-Tibet Railway • Comprehensive Volume", and china Railway Qinghai-Tibet Group Co., Ltd. provided information )