1st Ld-Writethru: China to build second railway linking Tibet with inland

China will build a second railway connecting Tibet with other parts of the country, according to a draft outline of a five-year plan released Saturday.

The railway will be built between Tibet Autonomous Region's capital city Lhasa and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, in southwest China, according to the draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on national economy and social development submitted to the national legislature for examination. It provided no further details.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is now linking Tibet with inland regions of the country. The 1,956-km railway, which started operation in July 2006, is the world's highest and longest plateau railroad.

Media reports have said the new railway will be about 1,629 km long, and it will only take 15 hours for trains traveling between Lhasa and Chengdu.

"We hope that the railway will be completed as early as possible. It will provide new momentum for our development, especially the tourism," said Wangdui, a national lawmaker and mayor of Tibet's Nyingchi City, where the new railway will go through.

In addition, the country will accelerate construction of railways in border areas and build cross-border corridors, the draft said.

More high-speed railways, including one linking Beijing and Hong Kong (Taipei), will be built, it said.

It is expected that the length of high-speed railways in operation will reach 30,000 km, linking over 80 percent of the country's major cities, according to the draft. Endi