China News Service, Lhasa, October 14 (Feng Yanyan) On October 14, the first Chengdu-Lhasa freight train, loaded with more than 500 tons of cargo, successfully arrived at Lhasa West Station via the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, marking the official opening of the normalized railway freight channel between Sichuan and Tibet.
Scheduled freight trains refer to freight trains that are included in the national railway train operation chart and run on a fixed basis. They have the characteristics of fixed points, fixed routes, fixed train numbers, timing, and pricing. According to China Railway Qinghai-Tibet Group Co., Ltd., after the national railway map adjustment in the fourth quarter this year, the railway department has opened three new scheduled freight trains to Tibet from Chengdu, Zhengzhou, and Qingtongxia in Ningxia. So far, a network of freight trains to Tibet has been formed across the country that originates from multiple points in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Xining, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, and Qingtongxia in Ningxia and radiates throughout the region, and the logistics pattern of the railway to Tibet has been further improved.
As the largest comprehensive railway logistics hub in Tibet, the Lhasa West Railway Goods Yard integrates warehousing, loading and unloading, transportation and distribution, and is responsible for the region's main tasks of collecting and distributing materials in and out of Tibet. Since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in 2006, the types of goods entering and leaving Tibet have increased from more than 10 at the beginning to more than 50 today. The cargo arrival and departure volume at the freight yard has increased from 329,000 tons to 6.429 million tons in 2025, and the transportation carrying capacity has achieved a leap-forward improvement.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the new scheduled trains, China Railway Qinghai-Tibet Group Co., Ltd. has refined the loading, unloading and transshipment plan in advance. For the more than ten types of materials arriving this time, including grain, medicine, timber, agricultural and sideline products, and construction machinery, the cargo yard implemented classified storage and precise classification control, and strictly implemented plateau loading and unloading operation standards and fire prevention, moisture prevention, and security measures. Focus on opening up green transshipment channels for food, medicine and other people's livelihood materials, giving priority to warehouses and distribution, ensuring that people's livelihood materials can reach the front line quickly and directly.
It is understood that the scheduled freight train from Chengdu to Lhasa adopts the normal operation mode of "fixed time, fixed route, fixed schedule", with stable timeliness and sufficient transportation volume, effectively filling the shortcomings of logistics into Tibet in southwest China. After the regular operation of the train, it will effectively complement road transportation, effectively solve the problems of poor logistics and insufficient transportation capacity on the plateau in winter, and further smooth the two-way circulation channel of Sichuan-Tibet materials.
