Environmental Impacts of China’s Mega Railway Projects in Tibet

After completing the Lhasa Golmud railway line in 2006, China has expanded the railway to Shigatse town, which will become operational this month. China has also announced an ambitious railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal, and Bhutan by 2020. Although China touts the projects as a major infrastructural and economic achievement, critics are concerned about its long term impacts on Tibet’s fragile environment. Table Talk invites Zamla Tenpa Gyaltsen, Environmental Researcher at the Tibet Policy Center, Dharamsala to discuss the impacts of China’s railway projects on Tibet’s environment.