Qinghai–Tibet Railway

Passengers sign a health declaration before boarding, because most of a day is spent above 4,000 m, where even the antelope look better acclimatised than you. The Golmud–Lhasa section, finished in 2006, was engineering at the edge of the possible, its track raised on cooled embankments and long bridges so migrating chiru can pass beneath. Outside, the Kunlun and Tanggula ranges scroll past salt lakes and nomad camps until prayer-flagged passes give way to the Lhasa valley.

Stations

1. 0 kmXining West
2. 10 kmShuangzhai
3. 41 kmHuangyuan
4. 72 kmHaiyan
5. 109 kmQinghaihu
6. 142 kmHaergai
7. Show 53 more stations

   1. 172 kmGangcha
   2. 206 kmNiaodao
   3. 257 kmTianjun
   4. 296 kmChahannuo
   5. 333 kmWulan
   6. 352 kmKeke
   7. 408 kmTaoli
   8. 443 kmDelingha
   9. 493 kmLianhu
   10. 590 kmYinmaxia
   11. 597 kmYinmaxiaxi
   12. 613 kmXitieshan
   13. 664 kmDabuxun
   14. 678 kmChaerhan
   15. 736 kmGolmud East
   16. 743 kmGolmud
   17. 770 kmNanshankou
   18. 793 kmGanlong
   19. 826 kmNachitai
   20. 849 kmXiaonanchuan
   21. 867 kmYuzhufeng
   22. 885 kmWangkun
   23. 921 kmBudongquan
   24. 1,012 kmWudaoliang
   25. 1,049 kmXiushuihe
   26. 1,085 kmJiangkedong
   27. 1,107 kmRiachiqu
   28. 1,131 kmWuli
   29. 1,150 kmTuotuohe
   30. 1,170 kmKaixinling
   31. 1,192 kmTongtianhe
   32. 1,219 kmTanggang
   33. 1,244 kmYanshiping
   34. 1,266 kmBumade
   35. 1,291 kmBuqiangge
   36. 1,315 kmTanggula North
   37. 1,331 kmTanggula
   38. 1,351 kmTanggula South
   39. 1,370 kmZa'gyazangbo
   40. 1,409 kmTuoju
   41. 1,434 kmAmdo
   42. 1,463 kmLake Cona
   43. 1,483 kmLiantonghe
   44. 1,541 kmGangxiu
   45. 1,559 kmNaqu
   46. 1,622 kmSangxiong
   47. 1,645 kmGulu
   48. 1,684 kmWumatang
   49. 1,690 kmDiwuma
   50. 1,717 kmDamxung
   51. 1,753 kmDaqiongguo
   52. 1,773 kmYangbaling
   53. 1,790 kmYangbajing
8. 1,809 kmAngga
9. 1,822 kmMaxiang
10. 1,839 kmGurong
11. 1,862 kmLhasa West
12. 1,873 kmLhasa +2

The stations on this line, as Wikidata lists them, in order along the line as drawn here, with the distance along it. Not every train stops at every station. A +N after a station: N other routes on this map stop or end there, and the map draws it as a station where lines meet.

Along the way

• Qinghai Lake grasslands
• Kunlun Mountains gateway at Golmud
• Hoh Xil antelope reserve
• Tanggula station, the world’s highest
• Nagqu nomad plains
• prayer flags of the Lhasa valley

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 152884: the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 59 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 13 m from it
• The operator publishes this line's timetable: China Railway 12306, a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

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