China to build railway line to India
Almost two decades ago, the first passenger train cruised slowly over the frozen Tibetan plateau at one hundred kilometers per hour, slicing through the thin air four thousand meters above the ocean. This novel rail link connected the sacred Buddhist capital of Lhasa to the rest of China’s expanding network for the very first time. Now, with ambitions to weave an intricate web across this highest region, China to build railway line to India
Steel tracks ever deeper into the Roof of the World.
It has been reported that construction will soon commence on the ambitious Tibet-Xinjiang railway project. Slated to traverse the disputed Aksai Chin territory that borders India, the futurerail line threatens to bring Chinese infrastructure uncomfortably close to the contested Line of Actual Control dividing the neighbors. While aimed at further integrating its western reaches, this latest plan is sure to compound long-standing concerns in New Delhi.
Aksai Chin holds undeniable symbolic and strategic importance.
yet the barren plateau was surreptitiously seized by China over half a century ago. It was their covert construction of a strategic highway through this same region, known as Route G219, that helped ignite the flames of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Understandably, the proposed railroad also presents a dual dilemma for India.
By penetrating Aksai Chin, it would enhance Beijing’s ability to rapidly shuttle soldiers and materiel to the border in times of tension. Simultaneously, running so near the LAC risks exacerbating disputes over their disputed border by challenging India’s control and worsening distrust on both sides. While infrastructure brings integration, here it threatens to sow the seeds of greater discord along their fragile frontier.
Chinese Rail Line to Chengdu from Arunachal Border
Since the initial laying of track to Tibet in 2006, two additional lines have followed; the scenic route from Lhasa to Shigatse opening in 2014, with vistas of the towering peaks of Gyala Peri, followed by the ambitious linkage of the Tibetan capital to Nyingchi in 2021. The recently completed Nyingchi line runs southeast in its winding path towards the border with Arunachal Pradesh, raising questions about potential extensions further eastward to the bustling city of Chengdu, a significant military hub in western China’s Sichuan province.
Beijing’s vision incorporates advancing the ironway to the hamlet of Gyirong on the Nepal-Tibet border, as well as south to Yadong county in the verdant Chumbi Valley located at the convergence of India, Bhutan, and China, a site where tensions flared in the 2017 Doklam standoff over road construction. China is persisting in pushing tracks deeper into Tibet’s remote terrain. It is not only dams proximal to India that raise concern, but railroads poised precariously close to sensitive frontiers, which could understandably stir unease among our eastern neighbors.
A report in China’s Global Times noted plans are anticipated to commence this year.
overseen by the newly minted Xinjiang-Tibet Railway Company, a state-controlled entity established with capital of 95 billion yuan to forge linkages across the high western regions. The project envisions constructing a 5,000 km rail network with Lhasa at its core by 2035, with the primary 2,000 km line connecting Lhasa to Hotan in Xinjiang forming a vital artery joining northwestern and southwestern China. Traversing the perilous Kunlun, Karakoram, Kailash, and Himalayan ranges at average elevations surpassing 4,500 meters, the route presents staggering engineering challenges to bridge glaciated valleys and traverse perpetually frozen terrain.
Given its proximity to the contested Line of Actual Control
the strategic significance of this project is amplified, as sections could pass through the disputed Aksai Chin region, though developments after 2023 have slowed, according to some sources.
The proposed trans-Tibetan railway aims to connect remote communities from Shigatse to Hotan according to a report by The Hindu last February. If completed, the ambitious route would run northwest along the Nepal border before cutting north through Aksai Chin. Further extensions under consideration could link Gyirong, an important trade center on the Nepal border, and Yadong county near the India-Bhutan frontier. However, the planned extension through the strategically sensitive Chumbi Valley, site of the tense 2017 military standoff, is sure to exacerbate existing tensions.
Such infrastructure development will undoubtedly bolster China’s military.
The expanded network will facilitate rapid troop and supply deployment to disputed border regions. Understandably, these reported plans have triggered alarm in New Delhi given the profound security implications.
As of Tuesday noon on August 12th, the Indian government
had yet to issue any response to the proposed rail line said to skirt their shared Line of Actual Control. While India works to match these infrastructure gains by improving their own border roads, Beijing’s vision portends further militarization of a domain where dangerous misunderstandings can too easily escalate. Indian Railway
