China uses “green construction” for Tibet railway
China uses “green construction” for Tibet railway
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
April 26, 2007
To the surprise of many observers, China went to great lengths to minimize the environmental impact of its new Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest railway in the world. Still, despite these efforts, there will likely be detrimental environmental effects from its construction, writes a team of researchers in the latest issue of the journal Science.
The railway, which connects Lhasa to Xining in northwestern China, was completed with much fanfare in October 2005. Technically challenging due to high elevations (more than 960 km or over 80% of the railway, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, including Tanggula Pass at 5,072 m), remoteness (the track has 675 bridges); and terrain (half the track is laid on permafrost), construction took five years and cost $3.68 billion. Of this, nearly 6 percent of the budget went toward ecosystem restoration and environmental protection.
Changhui Peng of the Université du Quebec à Montréal in Montréal and colleagues report that during construction, workers replanted large areas of grassland vegetation and its root soil layer and built a network of tunnels to avoid disrupting seasonal migration of animals including the endangered Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii). Planners detoured the tracks around ecologically sensitive areas like wetlands when possible and used bridges when no other option was available. Engineers insulated the tracks and installed temperature-reducing facilities to avoid destabilizing permafrost in frozen areas. All water is recycled to avoid contamination of surrounding natural water systems and stations are equipped with water treatment facilities. The government established five protected areas along the route and plans six more.
Given these measures, the authors write that “the most serious environmental problems created by the [Qinghai-Tibet Railway], including garbage disposal, water treatment, and ecotourism, will only become apparent in the long run.”
“These problems will not be identified in time unless the authorities assign clear responsibility for this task,” they write. “The key to protecting the region’s fragile environment from direct and indirect human damage will lie in tightly controlling the number of ecotourists and the speed of economic development.”
The authors further said the railway could facilitate the spread of infection disease and boost animal smuggling and other illegal activities in remote areas.
Noting the “plateau temperatures have risen remarkably since the 1980s,” the authors also warn that global warming could threaten the integrity of the railroad where it runs over permafrost.
“If carefully managed, the Qinghai-Tibet railway will ultimately promote the sustainable ecological, social, and economic development of western China. We hope that it will be remembered as more than just an engineering accomplishment—that it will also be remembered as an ecological miracle and a successful example of a green railway that can be followed by other regions and developing countries,” the conclude.
CITATION: Changhui Peng, Hua Ouyang, Qiong Gao, Yuan Jiang, Feng Zhang, Jun Li, Qiang Yu (2007). Building a “Green” Railway in China. Science Express Thursday 26 April 2007.
