At 13,000 Feet High, Pens Explode, Ears Pop on Tibet Train
On the highest railroad in the world, passengers get individual oxygen masks, the tracks are bolted to ice, pens explode and water in the toilets is heated to keep from freezing.
Although the compartments have air pumped in, some passengers use extra oxygen on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Welcome aboard the new Qinghai-Tibet Railway, a great stride in railroad technology and China's latest risky engineering megaproject. With the labor of a hundred thousand workers and an investment of $4.1 billion, China has built the first railway into the "roof of the world" with an altitude-defying, 1,572-mile route from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet's capital.
Penetrating the legendary remoteness of the Buddhist territory is a goal that took over a decade for China's leaders to achieve because of myriad logistical hurdles. To do it, China culled experts from around the world.
"Each detail of your normal [train], you need to challenge," says Emmanuel Verhoeven, an engineer who led a Sino-Canadian consortium called Bombardier Sifang Power (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. that built the trains. Bombardier Inc., along with General Electric Co., provided the key equipment to make the train run.
Until now, a mountain train that primarily serves mines in Peru was the world's highest. But China's train to Tibet required a new way to ward off potentially deadly altitude sickness, which is brought on by a lack of oxygen, because transporting passengers safely was always central to its plan to build the railway.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway project, which will take passengers over Tibet's snow-covered plateau, has angered some conservationists and activists from the remote region.
Chinese officials have high hopes that the trains will boost tourism and trade to Tibet, and are predicting that 800,000 passengers annually at a cost of less than $200 one-way for a so-called "hard sleeper" from Beijing. Still, with no showers and squat toilets, it's a quirky way to spend two days. A luxury train could start running on the same line next year.
Aboard the first passenger train, which pulled into Lhasa late Monday, it's clear why Tibet's legendary high altitude was such an engineering challenge. When passengers whiz through the Tagula Pass which, at 16,641 feet above sea level, marks the border of the province of Qinghai and Tibet, they are 15% higher than the tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S.
For around 10 hours at speeds of around 60 miles an hour, the train needs to run at altitudes above 13,000 feet. Thin air is only one challenge along with sand, sun and outside temperatures that dip to minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
The railway is designed to move people, cargo and military between Tibet and the rest of China more safely, cheaply and efficiently than the two-lane road built along the same routes in the early 1950s.
The new railway portion now links Beijing with Lhasa, Tibet's capital.
Since 340 miles of the route is permafrost, or ice, the Chinese consulted Swiss engineers, who advised the Chinese that laying the track on so much ice was an unworkable proposition. But Chinese engineers did it anyway -- by securing the rails with spikes piled 108 feet through the ice to solid ground below, aided by a homegrown method to harness cool air and keep the ice from melting. The technology "has 300,000 statistics" to prove it works, says Zhu Zhengsheng, a Ministry of Railways official who supervised construction.
Engineers dropped an initial proposal to borrow technology from the airline industry, which wrestles with essentially the same altitude issues. A train lacks the thrust of jet engines that do the work of pressurizing air in fuselages, and stepping out of the train at Lhasa's 12,000-foot altitude after being in a pressurized environment shocks the system, as arrivals to Tibet by air typically discover. Plus, China's air force pointed out that the train windows would also have to be as small as airplane windows -- a definite turnoff for a 48-hour trip that people take for its once-in-a-lifetime sightings of endangered animals, grasslands and remote, snow-capped mountains.
Instead, engineers decided that train compartments should have more oxygen as they climb in altitude. To boost oxygen levels as high as 25% of the breathable air, from 21% normally, air is pumped through a membrane that works like a tiny net and allows nitrogen molecules, which are smaller than oxygen, to escape, while trapping a mixture with comparatively more oxygen that is circulated through cars.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses a bridge near Lhasa, Tibet, on its inaugural run from China on July 1. The engineering marvel will help open the isolated Himalayan region.
Even as their ears are popping, most passengers found they had enough breathable air in the 15 hours or so between Golmud in Qinghai province and Lhasa. But not everyone did, including a tourist from northern China, Gao Youngwen, who was sprawled on a bed of newspapers on the floor during much of the trip, with an oxygen mask pumping 40% oxygen directly into his nostrils as his wife massaged his shoulders.
Plugs located throughout the train coaches are more like a hospital's oxygen hookups than the masks that drop from the ceiling in airplanes. Like in a hospital, there's no smoking on board when the oxygen is pumping, and on the 48-hour trip the train stopped just five times.
One benefit of all the attention to air quality on the two day journey in tight quarters where no one has taken a shower: The air remains fresh. Giant equipment warms water during the trip -- but not for hot showers. Instead, it is designed to keep the waste runoff from the train's squat-style toilets from freezing.
Altitude introduces odd challenges to anyone's trip, like exploding ballpoint pens and roll-on deodorants, while plastic bags expand like balloons and scatter food when opened. Special silver paint on roofs protects the cars from the sun and passengers are shielded from ultraviolet rays with double-paned windows. Riders said their computers started acting funny at the highest altitudes, possibly since proximity to the sun makes it easier to conduct electricity, which required specially insulated electrical systems on the train.
And then there is the sand, since much of the trip passes through the moonscape province of Qinghai. To keep sand out, every car is basically enclosed in a steel bubble with as few exposed parts as possible, while special rubber and extra grease is applied throughout the trains. Sand is also kept away from the rails by tiny handmade enclosures of brick.
A soldier stood with his back to the train to protect valuable equipment from theft.
All the extra equipment adds about 5.5 tons to the basic 53 tons of a normal passenger car. Because a breakdown in the middle of nowhere could quickly become deadly for passengers on board, every key system is also backed up at least once -- the oxygen system three times -- and the cars interlinked so systems could be shared in an emergency. Where one could probably do the job, China is using three white and green 3,800-horsepower GE "specialty application locomotives" that cost around $2 million each.
Not all of the train's engineering is high-tech, including service carts that didn't fit down aisles, cabin doors that don't shut and a bar car that serves warm beer.
As soon as next year, a luxury train by RailPartners could offer an alternative at $1,000 a day, complete with king-size beds and baths. Launched by two former McKinsey & Co. consultants, Josh Brookhart and Ben Tsen, the train is designed to rival Europe's Orient Express and will take its time, stopping at remote tourist attractions along the way.
The track is laid in such remote parts of the country that lone soldiers stand at attention with their backs to the train at intervals of about 3,300 feet to protect it from theft by the few herdsmen who live in the area.
While human-rights activists claim China is trying to destroy Tibet's culture, the governor of Tibet defended the railway to reporters in Lhasa on Tuesday. "The Qinghai to Tibet Railway gives us a rare opportunity to boost our economic development," Champa Phuntsok said.
高原列车通“屋脊”
在这条堪称全世界海拔最高的铁路上，列车在冻土层上飞奔，每位旅客都享有单独的氧气面罩，甚至连卫生间都使用热水以防结冰。
欢迎乘坐最新开通的青藏铁路列车。这是铁路技术史上的重大创举，也是中国最具挑战性的大型工程项目之一。耗资42亿美元、动用十万多人，中国人成功挑战了世所罕见的高海拔，将铁路修到了“世界屋脊”。这条总长4,057公里的铁路让首都与拉萨紧紧相连。长期以来，穿越极具传奇色彩的西藏自治区一直是中国领导人的美好愿望，由于存在种种障碍，他们花费了十多年时间，在多位世界级专家的帮助下最终实现梦想。
“看上去普普通通的列车，其实每个细节都存在挑战，”青岛四方-庞巴迪-鲍尔铁路运输设备有限公司(Bombardier Sifang Power (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd.)项目主管埃曼努尔?维尔霍温(Emmanuel Verhoeven)说。该公司负责生产青藏铁路运行的车厢。庞巴迪(Bombardier Inc.)和通用电气(General Electric Co.)共同提供了确保列车运行的关键设备。
在此之前，秘鲁一条为采矿服务的高山铁路一直堪称世界最高。而中国的青藏铁路不但要面临高度的挑战，还要寻找克服高原反应的新方法，因为这条铁路的中心任务就是运送旅客。
中国政府希望通过修建铁路带动西藏的旅游业及商业发展，他们预计每年到达西藏的游客将达到800,000人次。列车的硬卧票价不足200美元。不过没有沐浴设备，整整两天的旅程会比较难熬。豪华列车预计明年开始运行。
青藏铁路的首发列车于周一晚间入藏，登上这趟列车，你就可以真切体会到为什么西藏的高海拔会成为工程项目的巨大难题。列车穿越标志著青海和西藏分界线的唐古拉山口时，当地海拔已经达到5,072米，比美国最高的山脉还高出15%。
列车要在海拔4,000米以上以大约100公里的时速运行大约10小时。除了高海拔地区的稀薄空气，列车还要承受沙尘、日晒以及最低摄氏零下45度的低温挑战。
二十世纪五十年代初，沿著目前的铁路线曾经修建了一条两车道的通藏公路，而眼下的铁路在运载旅客、货物、乃至部队时，无疑会更加安全有效，成本也更低。
由于途中有550公里的冻土地带，中国向瑞士专家发出了咨询，而得到的答复却是：在这样的冻土层修建铁路几乎不可能。然而无论如何中国工程师做到了──铁轨中的长钉穿过33米冰层直达地面，采用自行开发的特有技术冷却空气，防止冰层融化。“为了确保工程的可靠性，我们用300,000个统计数据”检验了这一技术，铁道部负责青藏铁路建设的官员称。
工程师最初建议从航空领域引入技术，因为后者也同样面临类似的海拔问题。但火车缺少能够将机身空气完全封闭的喷气引擎，而且让旅客从封闭的环境中突然走出来，面临拉萨海拔3,641米的稀薄空气，也可能导致高原反应，就象乘飞机前往西藏一样。此外，中国空军指出，火车的窗户必须设计成飞机窗户那么大，而这对生平第一次有机会在48小时的旅途中欣赏到凶猛的野生动物、广袤的草原以及绵延雪山的游客来说，肯定无法接受。
工程师决定，随著列车攀升的高度逐渐上升，车厢内应提供更多氧气。为将氧气含量从正常的21%提高至25%，车厢的空气在泵出时会通过一个网状过滤薄膜，滤出体积小于氧分子的氮分子，这样车厢内的剩余空气就会留下更多氧分子。
虽然耳朵感觉有些鼓，但大多数乘客在从青海格尔木至西藏拉萨的这段旅程中都感觉氧气充足。不过，也并非所有人都呼吸顺畅，来自北方的高永文（音）就一直躺在地上，身下垫著报纸，鼻孔中插著氧气插管，他的太太不断地按摩著他的肩膀，帮助他放松。
车厢里的氧气插管看上去更像是医院里的供氧设备，并不是飞机上的那种。同医院一样，列车在供氧时禁止吸烟，48小时的全程仅有5个停靠站。
大家都关注空气质量的一个好处就是：可以保持空气新鲜。旅途中有大型设备帮助给水加热，但并非为洗澡之用。由于使用蹲便，需要用热水来保证排泄物不至被冻。
海拔高度给这次旅行带来了少有的麻烦，用圆珠笔写字、使用滚珠香体剂，这些都成了难题。塑料袋会像气球一样鼓起来，一打开，食物就洒落一地。车厢顶部涂有特别的银漆，可抵御烈日暴晒。双层防紫外线玻璃可以保护乘客不受紫外线侵害。一些乘客表示，他们的电脑在最高的海拔高度出现了奇怪的现象，可能是因为距离太阳太近更容易导电吧──也许列车内需要特别配备一些绝缘系统。
接下来的问题就是沙地，本次旅行要穿过荒凉程度不亚于月球的青海省。为了防止沙尘侵袭，每节车厢都有钢铁罩的保护，将裸露部分降至最低。与此同时，还在车身采用了特种橡胶和油脂。铁轨旁人工搭起了砖砌的围栏，防止被沙子掩埋。
这些额外设施让原本应在48吨左右的客车又重了5吨。由于系统的任何中断都可能给乘客带来致命打击，因此每套关键设施都至少有一套备用──供氧系统有三套──车厢与车厢相互联通，在紧急时刻可以分享设施。虽然一辆机车也可能顺利完成任务，但他们还是配备了3辆白绿相间的3,800马力GE特制机车，每辆造价200万美元。
当然，并非全套工程都采用高科技设备，服务推车的大小似乎与走廊并不匹配，车厢门关不上，餐车里的啤酒经常是温的。
最早在明年，由RailPartners提供的豪华列车就将闪亮登场──包厢配备大号双人床及洗澡间，估计费用在1,000美元/天。曾在麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)担任咨询师的乔希?布鲁克哈特(Josh Brookhart)和本?特森(Ben Tsen)建议为豪华列车制定灵活行程，考虑在沿途风景区驻留。“这将是全世界最豪华壮丽的列车，”布鲁克哈特说。
整个旅程约有三分之一的时间将在寥无人烟的荒地穿过，而为了防止铁轨被盗，每隔1公里都将有孤零零的士兵站在那里把守。
虽然人权运动的倡导者声称中国正在破坏古老的藏族文化，但西藏自治区政府周二称赞这条铁路。自治区主席巴平措(Champa Phuntsok)向记者说，“青藏铁路为我们带来了不可多得的发展机会。”
