Night train to Lhasa

Riding a night train was one point on my vision board for 2023. Going to Tibet was on my bucket list. So why not combining both of it?! Here I am, sitting/lying on my upper bunk bed in a night train, sharing a soft sleeper compartment (the best class) with a Chinese family of 3 for 22h(!).

THE WORLD’S HIGHEST TRAIN RIDE
There’s no doubt the new Qīnghǎi–Tibet train line is an engineering marvel. Topping out at 5072m, it is the world’s highest railway, snatching the title from a Peruvian line. The statistics speak for themselves: 86% of the line is above 4000m, and half the track lies on permafrost, requiring a cooling system of pipes driven into the ground to keep it frozen year-round to avoid a rail-buckling summer thaw. Construction of the line involved building 160km of bridges and elevated track, seven tunnels (including the world’s highest) and 24 hyperbaric chambers, the latter to treat altitude-sick workers.Read more