China-Tibet Train: World's Highest Railway With Extreme Passenger Environment

Beijing-Lhasa Express: The first train from Lhasa Railway Station travels on the Tibetan grasslands near Lhasa, Tibet.
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The first train from Beijing, China reached the Tanggula pass on Monday July 24 after a two-day journey, where it climbed to 5,072m (16,000 feet), before beginning the descent to Lhasa, Tibet.

The line boasts high-tech engineering to stabilise tracks over permafrost and oxygen pumped into cabins to help passengers cope with the high altitude. Restaurant car's rice cooked in pressure cookers, to mitigate effects of high altitude.

Although some oxygen is pumped into the train cars as they roll through Tibet, the air inside has 30 percent less oxygen than it did some 2,100 miles ago, back in Beijing. As the express powers over its highest point — the 16,640-foot Tangula Pass — many on board begin to feel it and complained of feeling sick.

"Now we've reached the top, I feel sick and nauseous and have headaches," Wu Jia, 32, a Chinese tourist, told Reuters news agency.

According to a Reuters reporter on the train, passengers attached oxygen tubes to their noses and were forced to lie down. Dozens of passengers strap on oxygen masks, some experience bloody noses and a few lose their lunch. Pens spit their ink and potato chip bags expand until some burst their seams with the dramatic drop in atmospheric pressure.

China's official media has hailed the new Qinghai-Lhasa line as an engineering wonder. China's President Hu Jintao, who watched the first train leave Golmud, in China's Qinghai province, for Lhasa on Saturday, called it a "magnificent feat".

Beijing to Lhasa train trip takes 48 hours and costs $50-$160 one way.

Read Also:
In China, the world's highest train bridges a land of superlatives (USA Today)
First Beijing train reaches Lhasa (BBC News)