📋 Tender Overview
On June 12, the Tianlu Express intercity train departed from Shuangzhai Station. Photo by Ma Jianlin
In Xining in June, the sun shines brightly on the banks of the Huangshui River. In the Shuangzhai Railway Logistics Base, there is a constant flow of trucks, containers are stacked layer by layer, and freighters are walking quickly through the lanes.
As the core hub for the transshipment of materials into Tibet and the only secondary railway logistics base in Qinghai, there is a freight train running directly to Lhasa every day, which effectively guarantees the supply of materials for the Tibetan people. It is also a window of the times to witness the changes in plateau logistics.
At 10:23 on June 12, the loud sound of bagpipes pierced the sky. The Tianlu Express intercity train loaded with cars, fresh food, daily necessities, steel, fertilizers and other supplies departed from Shuangzhai Station and headed for Lhasa West Station, more than 1,900 kilometers away.
This is the first class train to achieve full axle and full transportation since China Railway Qinghai-Tibet Group Co., Ltd. launched intercity trains to Tibet. 32 carriages were assembled, carrying 1,407 tons of cargo, and went directly to Lhasa West Station in one stop, setting a new record for the Qinghai-Tibet Railways freight transport capacity into Tibet.
Standing on the familiar platform, watching the train go further and further away, Wang Jinping, deputy manager of the multimodal operation department and party branch secretary of the Qinghai-Tibet Branch of China Railway Express Co., Ltd., was filled with excitement. He grew up in Golmud, and his father participated in the construction of the Xigang section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The fate of father and son has always been intertwined with this railway.
In Wang Jinpings memory, such efficient material transportation was unimaginable 20 years ago. At that time, transportation in and out of Tibet mainly relied on trains and cars, which were long distances and high costs. He calculated that in the past, the freight for transporting 30 tons of goods by road was as high as 20,000 to 30,000 yuan; now, the cost of transporting 60 tons of goods by rail is only about 14,000 yuan, which is reduced by about 2/3.
Not only has the cost been reduced, but the time has also been shortened. Liu Shengxin, a staff member of Xining Ningtie Container Transportation Service Co., Ltd. remembers that it used to take four to five days for fresh fruits and vegetables to be transported from Xining to Lhasa. It was bumpy all the way, and it was delayed on the road. A lot of it rotted when it arrived. It was difficult for people on the plateau to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
Its different now. Intercity trains into Tibet run every day, and Xining can reach Lhasa within 48 hours. The comprehensive logistics cost has dropped by 60% compared with 2018. Liu Shengxin also gave an example: In April this year, a dealer originally estimated that it would take three days for fresh food to arrive, but it was delivered to Lhasa in one and a half days, much faster than expected.
The transformation of Shuangzhai Railway Logistics Base has opened up the main artery of two-way logistics. Peoples livelihood supplies and infrastructure materials from the mainland are constantly flowing into Tibet to protect peoples livelihood and support construction; Tibets minerals, agricultural and animal husbandry products are efficiently transported out of China, paving the way to wealth for plateau specialty industries.
Behind this is a comprehensive upgrade of hardware and software. After continuous expansion, the bases cargo storage area reaches 104,000 square meters, equivalent to 14 standard football fields, and can accommodate 396 trucks at the same time. The annual loading and unloading capacity has jumped from 3 million tons to 5 million tons. As of 2025, the number of commercial vehicles transported through the Shuangzhai Railway Logistics Base has exceeded 10,000.
What is even more iconic is that the railway freight production operation and management and control platform has been fully implemented. The arrival and departure of goods, station pictures, and pick-up progress are visible in real time, and the scattered freight yard functions are integrated.
In the past, customers rushed from Xining city to the cargo yard to handle the waybill, and it took more than an hour to go back and forth. Mu Chao, assistant engineer of the Safety and Quality Department of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Logistics Center, told reporters, With this system, all business is handled directly online, from face-to-face to key-to-key, which greatly saves time and cost and improves service efficiency.
From limited capacity and high costs to high efficiency, inclusiveness, and full capacity, every step the Shuangzhai Railway Logistics Base takes is a silent witness to the Qinghai-Tibet Railways twenty years of hard work.
On the snowy plateau, the Sky Road Express is still running forward. This fast lane for goods entering and leaving Tibet steadily protects the livelihood and well-being of the people on the plateau and injects surging momentum into the high-quality economic and social development of Tibet.
