The Qinghai-Xizang Railway marked the 20th anniversary of its full operation on July 1, 2026, having carried more than 104 million passengers and 824 million metric tons of cargo since opening.
The 1,956-kilometer line links Xining in Qinghai province with Lhasa in the Xizang Autonomous Region.
Scheduled passenger train pairs have grown from five per day in 2006 to 13 pairs in 2026. Daily freight train operations rose from 24 in 2006 to 136 at present.
Engineers shifted Hoh Xil Station 8.8 kilometers north during construction to avoid disrupting Tibetan antelope migration routes. Nearly 60 kilometers of dedicated wildlife passages were installed along the route.
The Tibetan antelope population has grown from fewer than 20,000 in the early 2000s to more than 70,000.
