A Fuxing bullet train runs in the Lhoka section of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway in southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region. (Photo by Jiao Hongtao/People’s Daily Online)
The Lhasa-Nyingchi railway in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has been playing an increasingly important role in making travel more convenient for local people and driving local development since it went into service on June 25, injecting more fresh impetus into the plateau region.
The 435-kilometer railway is Tibet’s first electrified line, and had seen 95,000 passenger trips by July 22.
Yangzom , a native of Mainling county in Nyingchi city and also a worker at the Lhasa railway station, has witnessed the growing number of tourists traveling on the railway. She shared some of her stories with People’s Daily Online.
Yangzom once helped an elderly couple from east China’s Shanghai who wanted to take a bullet train trip on the railway, buy tickets and board a train through a green channel as they did not know how to use the automatic ticket machines.
Yangzom has also led children from local welfare homes on a train trip. Sitting on the comfortable seats in the clean carriages with oxygen supply equipment, Yangzom and the children enjoyed the views of some remarkable landscapes at high speeds.
Yangzom said the railway has shortened the travel time between Nyingchi and Lhasa from some seven hours to just over three hours.
In addition, the railway brings new development opportunities for local businesses. Losang Tenzin, 26, from Nang county of Nyingchi, began running a staffing firm in his hometown after graduation. In the past, his biggest headache was sending staff from the county to Nyingchi along mountainous roads during peak seasons, as the only choice he had was minibuses, which were not only costly, but also unsafe.
But this is no longer a problem, as workers can travel to Nyingchi from the county on bullet trains. As greater transport convenience has led to a greater flow of people, Losang Tenzin plans to seize the new opportunities and open a restaurant in Nyingchi.
Moreover, the railway’s influence stretches to outside Tibet, allowing tourists both in and outside the region to better enjoy its beautiful tourist attractions.
Every spring, tourists and photographers swarm to Nyingchi, which is known for its picturesque peach blossom scenes. This makes flight tickets to Nyingchi very expensive, according to Ma Chunlin, who lives in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, and works in the tourism industry.
“Now, I would advise tourists to fly to Lhasa, and then go to Nyingchi by train,” Ma said.
“With the opening of the railway, we will launch a wider range of tourism products, and make trips more convenient and comfortable. I’m sure tourists will have more options for traveling to Nyingchi in the future,” Ma said.
Apart from bringing in more tourists from outside Tibet, the railway will allow more people from Shannan county and Lhasa to visit Nyingchi over the weekend, which will further boost tourism in Nyingchi, explained Zhang Rundong, deputy head of Nyingchi’s tourism development bureau.
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0729/c90000-9878257.html