World News | China's First High-speed Train in Tibet Carries out Maiden Military Mission: Report

Beijing, Aug 4 (PTI) China's recently launched high-speed train connecting Tibet's provincial capital Lhasa with strategically located Nyingchi, a Tibetan town situated close to Arunachal Pradesh border, has been used for its first military transporting mission, official media here reported.

The newly opened Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway carried new recruits of a combined arms brigade affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Command to an exercise field at an elevation of 4,500 meters, state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday.

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This is the first time the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, an important part of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, has hosted a troop transport mission which marks another step forward on the systematic development of China's military transport, the daily quoted js7tv.cn, a news website affiliated with the PLA.

The high-speed railway serves as a boost to the capability of the PLA, the daily quoted analysts as saying.

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The high speed train was part of China's efforts to beef up border infrastructure which included well-developed road, rail and air networks for rapid movement of troops.

On July 23, President Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Nyingchi, becoming the first top Chinese leader to visit the Tibetan border town and travelled to Lhasa by high-speed train. It was also his first visit to Tibet as President.

Opened on June 25, the 435-kilometre-long railway line has a designed speed of 160 km per hour. It reduces the travel time from Lhasa to Nyingchi from 5 hours to approximately 3.5 hours.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, which is firmly rejected by India. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)