For the first time, travelers in Tibet can enjoy “roof of the world” views at high speed. The 250 mile long rail line connecting the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with Nyingchi opened June 25.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/lhasa-nyingchi-high-speed-railway-china-tibet/index.html
Would love to see China someday but not under the current regime.
You are likely to wait a long time then.
Wow, Tibet has achieved province status and has high speed rail too! Will Taiwan be getting that soon? Bridge, tunnel or bridge/tunnel? And then there’s the rest of Southeast Asia and the Phillipines. Doesn’t seem to be a limit on Chinese ambition or hegemony.
Rick
Yup, the choke chain is pulled tighter day by day.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/china-influence-abroad-nations-broken-heads
I think it’s closer than anyone thinks.
Does the hi-speed train have a decompression chamber to be able to get the people from sea level to altitude safely - like bringing divers back to the surface after diving in bodies of water? Altitude sickness is real.
Your basis for that opinion? Mine is based on knowing many Chinese in China. Although many are not thrilled with Xi, none desire a revolution. Most are pretty satisfied with lives much better than those parents, etc. The time for revolution was in 1989 but George HW Bush offered no support to progressive elements there.
The conventional train the Chinese built to reach Tibet a few years ago was pressurized much like an aircraft, the peak elevation being as I recall on the order of 15,800 feet. One would expect that the pressure would be modulated to cause minimum discomfort at the ‘detraining’ end just as it would be for aircraft… and that ‘English air’ or other aids are available for altitude sickness after arrival. Even the fastest high-speed train on that route will likely not be as fast as an aircraft…
Did China decide to not pressurize trains as it became too complicated ? Instead were the cars equipped with oxygen concentrators ? That way passengers could pass between cars. Then compression problems are not a problem as cabin altitude changes are slower than you will fid in any modern aircraft. No altitude sickness as long as the oxygen partial pressure stands between 2.3 - 1.8 PSI. Partial pressure of O2 at sea level and ~ 20 % is ~3 PSI the rest is mainly partial nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Altitude-Oxygen Chart by Higher Peak - Altitude Tents and Altitude Training Systems by Higher Peak
Altitude to Oxygen Chart - Oxygen Levels at Different Altitudes (milehightraining.com)
About partial pressures
How does altitude affect the body and why does it affect people differently? (medicalxpress.com)
That is certainly the way I’d do it today, since there has been extensive experience with molecular-sieve separation at reasonable cost (paradoxically the early research was in separating the nitrogen for use in things like cereal packaging!) and it shouldn’t be difficult to adapt techniques developed for, say, HBOT to a reasonably sealable train.
Good thinking, and good sources.
This means that China will be able to send troops and replace native Tiibets faster just like they are doing with Hong Kong…Roman Rule better roads tighter control over empire