Editing Transport in China (section)

===Regional development===
[[File:中国西藏拉萨市 China Lhasa Tibet China Xinjiang Urumqi Welcome - panoramio (78).jpg|thumb|Lhasa railway station]]
{{Main|Qingzang railway}}
[[File:Qingzang railway Train 01.jpg|thumb|A train pulled by an [[China Railways NJ2|NJ2]] [[diesel locomotive|locomotive]] travels on the [[Qingzang railway]] in 2008.]]

In 1992, a new large-scale rail project was launched in China, called the "New Silk Road" or "Eurasian Continental Bridge" project. The project involved the modernization and infrastructure development of a {{convert|4131|km|0|abbr=on}} railroad route starting in [[Lianyungang]], [[Jiangsu]], and traveling through central and northwestern China to [[Urumqi]], [[Xinjiang]], to the [[Dzungarian Gate|Alataw Pass]] into [[Kazakhstan]]. From that point, the railroad links to some {{convert|6800|km|0|abbr=on}} of routes that end in [[Rotterdam]].

China also has established rail links between seaports and interior export-processing zones. For example, in 2004 [[Chengdu]] in [[Sichuan]] was linked to the [[Special economic zones of China|Shenzhen Special Economic Zone]] in coastal [[Guangdong]]; exports clear [[customs]] in Chengdu and are shipped twice daily by rail to the seaport at [[Shenzhen]] for fast delivery.

====Tibet====
A {{convert|1080|km|0|abbr=on}} section of the [[Qingzang railway]] has been completed from [[Golmud]] to [[Lhasa (prefecture-level city)|Lhasa]]. The {{convert|815|km|0|abbr=on}} section from [[Xining]] to Golmud in [[Qinghai]] opened to traffic in 1984. The railway's highest point, the [[Tanggula Mountain Pass]], is 5,072 m above sea level, making it the highest railway in the world. More than {{convert|960|km|0|abbr=on}}, or over four-fifths of the railway, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m, and over half of it was laid on frozen earth. Because of the high altitudes, carriages are supplied with supplemental [[oxygen]].

Linking [[Lhasa (prefecture-level city)|Lhasa]] and [[Shigatse]] together in [[Tibet]], the construction of a {{convert|254|km|0|abbr=on}} extension line of the [[Qingzang railway]] started in 2009 with completion expected by 2014.