China's 'celestial' railway from the rooftops of Tibet to India's threshold: an engineering wonder

- Eyesight-Hershal Pushkarna

- Danger for India has arrived ... China's new railway just 17 kilometers from Arunachal Pradesh

A film-like screenplay presented here dates back to the 1950's when the Chinese Red Army bulldozed over Buddhist Tibet. Following the teachings of Gautama Buddha and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan people were generally peaceful, but they took a heroic interest in endangering the security of the motherland. He entered the battlefield with antiquated weapons such as spears and arrows. But in the end, the Chinese dry forces killed them with cannons and machine guns. Tibet's approximately 2.5 million square kilometers, about 12,000 feet [12,000 m] above sea level, merged overnight with the Chinese border. A huge 'buffer zone' called Tibet, a safe distance between India and China, has disappeared. As a result, the nearly three-and-a-half-thousand-kilometer Indian border between Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh became a soft target for a possible Chinese invasion.

The Chinese drag did not belch after filling such a large mouthful of Tibet. Our Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh were his next targets. The then Chinese government took strategic steps to build roads and bridges in Tibet to cut off the region by calling for military help. In order not to make India cry on this issue, he made an excuse that the extraction of minerals and metals like chromium, copper, tin, cast iron, boron, lithium, uranium etc. in remote areas of Tibet is a net for their transport to West China.

Relying on such representations from China, we took a big hit. Across the border, Tibet did not even bother to find out what was really going on. As a result, in a decade or so, China has built a total of 13,500 kilometers of roads in Tibet. A paved road led to our Ladakh (Aksai Chin) Sonsarvi. In addition to paved roads, China also secretly set up military camps near the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh. After deploying a tight army in the border areas, China's Ghodapur finally overtook India on October 14. We were defeated in the war. But the reason for this was more our negligence towards the advance movement of the enemy on the border than the limited offensive power of the Indian Army.

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Years passed. We forgot about the 19th War as a nightmare. But the Chinese rulers, who have an elephant-like memory, did not easily forget Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. He wanted to destroy these two regions at any cost. This led to the construction of a narrower network of roads in Tibet, the construction of military bases in the border vista, as well as the construction of airstrips for fighter jets. By the end of the 20th century, a network of 21,000 kilometers of paved roads had been laid in Tibet. That was a matter of concern for India. However a bigger shock of shock was yet to come.

The moment came in June 2001. China undertook a 1.5-kilometer railway project from Qinghai to Lhasa in Tibet that year. The news was shocking to us, as China could send a large number of troops to the Indian border if the train ran as far as Lhasa.

The news of the proposed railroad was differently shocking for the world's railway engineers. Laying the railway line in the harsh environment of Tibet, which is at least 15,000 feet above the ground (and therefore considered the Roof of the World), was an almost impossible engineering task. In particular, it was impossible to find a way to reach the Sonsarvo mountain range, which averages 12,000 feet high. The company, which has built several tunnels for the railway line in the Alpsa Mountains in Switzerland, called Kulnun impenetrable, while a railway expert predicted that Chinese trains would not reach Lhasa until the Kulnun Mountains stood in the way.

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China undertook the work of the Qinghai-Lhamsa railway line to wake up the sleeping India and to deprive India of sleep if it was awake. In June 2001, hundreds of technicians and 3,000 workers were sent to Tibetan land for a ghost, or future, engineering project. At a minimum of 12,000 feet above sea level and a maximum of 15.50 feet above sea level, he was to be terrified day and night without seeing the cold. At such a high altitude the weather is cold, the sun's rays during the day are so intense that it scorches the skin and the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is half of the sea level! A man gets tired of doing a little physical work, while here the workers had to work up a sweat.

Lack of oxygen in the atmosphere does not work as a hindrance to labor. So Chinese engineers first built a total of 12 oxygen plants at specific distances along the entire route. On a daily basis, it was made into oxygen, filled into a ten-kilogram bottle, and the workers were able to get oxygen through a rakhi tube tied to their backs. Medical treatment centers were set up at every 10 km to alleviate physical problems such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, sudden changes in blood pressure, etc. at high altitudes. A total of 200 health workers took charge.

The medical problem that could be a hindrance to the workers was solved. Now it was the turn of solving the technical problem. The permafrost / permafrost was half of the total 1,856 km long route of Qinghai-Lhasa. Permafrostal is the terrain in which the Cossacks are intertwined with rocks, mounds, and clay ice. Such land changes its appearance in an average of two years. This means that when the ice melts in the heat of the sun, the ground will either slip or take on a muddy swamp without the same alignment between the rocks, mounds and soil as before. When new snow falls from the sky and the temperature drops below zero, a solid surface of permafrost is formed again.

Why lay a bandage on permafrosta when these natural phenomena are constantly happening in Tibet? If the ground melts under the snow-melting rails, the concrete slip purse will sink into the swamp and the rails will not be usable. The Chinese government sent a team of 200 permafrost-savvy scientists to Tibet, under whose guidance engineers built some of the tallest bridges. Due to the large expanse of permafrost, the engineers had to build 25 bridges to bypass it. (Total length of bridges ઃ 150 km. Longest bridge ૧ 11.5 km). Where it was not possible to build the bridge, metal pipes were arranged a few feet below the ground of permafrostab, circulating liquid nitrogen at a temperature of 16 degrees Celsius below zero. Such ice-cold temperatures never allow the natural ice of permafrost to melt, so there is no question of changing the structure of the soil.

Speaking of the Kulnun Mountains, which the Swiss engineers called impenetrable, the Chinese endeavored to encrypt them. Ten tunnels were constructed at different places, the longest of which was 1.5 km. The tunnel, built at a level of 12.5 feet above sea level, set a new world record in height. Call it a railway or an airway?

At the end of five years of relentless hard work, the lines of Dhinchaghai-Lhashasa were being laid. The first train ran on the world's tallest railway line on July 1, 2006. The train, traveling at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, passed through unfamiliar and very beautiful regions of Tibet during the long journey. At a place called Tanggula Ghat, the train reaches an altitude of 15.50 feet above sea level, where the engineers compressed the passenger compartment of the train like an airplane so that the thin air does not deprive the passengers of oxygen. However, a team of doctors was deployed on the train if anyone had a physical problem due to lack of oxygen.

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The Qinghai-Lhasa train, like an engineering marvel, was a blessing in disguise for China, which wanted to set up military bases in Tibet. Today, China has deployed such a large military presence in the border areas of Arunachal, Sikkim and Ladakh that if war breaks out tomorrow, China will strategically benefit from it.

Tajkalam: This benefit has now multiplied in many ways, as just a few days ago, China successfully ran the first train from Lhavasa to Ningchi on a 35-kilometer-long and 15,000-foot-high route above the ground. Chinese engineers have built 150 bridges and carved 3 tunnels on this road. The tracks are so tough that the train rushes over them at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. From an engineering point of view, the Lhasa-Ningchi rail is a wonder. But from a military point of view, the thing we need to keep in mind is that Ningchi is a Tibetan town just 12 kilometers from the Arunachal Pradesh border. Here is the main rhythm of the 52nd and 53rd Mount Na Brigades of the Chinese dry forces. (1 brigade = a maximum of 5,000 troops.) After the arrival of the railways, China will not be without more military bases there. This situation is considered dangerous for the security of Arunachal.

Does India have a cure for this? According to the latest information, Border Road Organization / BRO is currently engaged in the construction of paved roads and bridges in Arunachal. The construction of a bridge over the Subansiri river was completed by the BRO in just 3 days. A tunnel is being dug in a hill called Se La, while the Air Force has set up a base in Vijayanagar, the easternmost village in Arunachal Pradesh. Of course, looking at China's military network in Tibet is not enough. Like China, we need to establish a comprehensive network of railways for the transport of arms and troops. But that moment does not come. The mega project to connect Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh with Leh via Ladakh via Manali has been on paper for years.

Meanwhile, the siege of the Chinese army around India is getting deeper and deeper.