China is going to create its most ambitious rail project so far connecting Shinjiang province to Tibet, a part of which will pass along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. This information is given in a media report.
According to South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, ‘Work on this railway project is expected to start this year. For this, a government -owned company has been formed, which will oversee the construction and operation of the railway line from Hotan in Shinjiang to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
Early capital of 95 billion yuan
The Xinjiang-Tibet Railway Company (XTRC) has been officially registered with capital of 95 billion yuan (about 13.2 billion US dollars). This company will be completely of China State Railway Group. Its goal is to make Lhasa a center by 2035 and make a 5,000 km long railway network.
According to the report, registered capital is only early funding, the total cost will be much higher. For example, about 320 billion yuan (US $ 45 billion) was spent in creating a 1,800 km long Sichuan-Tibet Railway.
Root will pass through LAC
According to the report, ‘parts of the rail route will pass through the Indo-China border (LAC), which will give it strategic importance in the border area, where there is less infrastructure than the rest of China.’
A major earlier project of China, the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway (G219), was also built via the disputed Aksai Chin region, which became a major reason for the 1962 war. India considers Aksai Chin as its integral part on the basis of its historical claims and old agreements.
One of the four major rail routes
Shinjiang-Tibet Railway is one of the four proposed lines connecting Tibet to the rest of the country. The other three rail services will connect Tibet to Chinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. In these, the Chinghai-Tibet line has been started, while the construction work is going on on the remaining two. Tibet is well connected to air, road and rail networks. The high-speed rail network from Lhasa has reached near the border of Arunachal Pradesh.
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