China to Build Strategic Xinjiang-Tibet Railway Near Indian Border
China is set to begin construction on an ambitious railway connecting Xinjiang with Tibet, with parts of the route running near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. A state-owned company has been established with 95 billion yuan ($13.2 billion) in capital to build the link between Hotan and Lhasa. The project is part of a plan to create a 5,000-km plateau rail network by 2035, significantly enhancing China's infrastructure and logistical capabilities in the strategically sensitive border region.
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Planning dates to 2008, with survey and design tenders for the Hotan–Shigatse section launched in May 2022; officials indicated construction would start in 2025. It would link Hotan (Xinjiang) to Tibet’s rail grid toward Shigatse/Lhasa, complementing the existing Qinghai–Tibet Railway to Lhasa and expanding a plateau network targeted for 2035.
Running near the LAC could improve China’s logistics and mobility in a sensitive border region, enabling faster troop and materiel movement and resilience in high-altitude environments, as highlighted by the plan to enhance infrastructure and logistics on the plateau by 2035.
Extreme cold (down to −40°C), low oxygen (~44% of inland levels), accelerated machinery wear, high logistics costs, widespread permafrost, and fragile ecosystems complicate construction and operations. Studies of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway link such projects to land-use change, ecosystem disruption, and localized vegetation and productivity losses near corridors.
Research on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway found increased landscape fragmentation within ~15 km, vegetation impacts within ~5 km, and construction-phase ecological losses near tracks. In permafrost zones, ground deformation has been detected at sites like Beiluhe and Tuotuohe. Mitigations have included wildlife passageways, fencing, route adjustments, and waste controls to reduce ecological disturbance.