Beijing-Lhasa Express

Beijing-Lhasa Express - Another train-ride of a life-time has been offered to thrill-seeking travellers. A train-journey into the highest altitudes and along some of the great vistas, on its way to the “roof of the world”, from Beijing to Lhasa, commenced on July 1st, 2007. The celebrations and the first impressions were televised throughout the day, and some photos from my TV-monitor give some impressions of what I hope will become a personal journey. Please excuse the quality of the photos and remember, they are taken from my television-screen:

My father was a train-engineer, and I have memories as a child, when he would lift me onto his Locomotive. For a small boy, it was a massive iron-monster, puffing as if alive. I remember how tiny I felt. He was proud of his job, powering these massive machines, and it offered the family its bread and butter. To be employed by the DB (Deutsche Bundesbahn) or German Federal Railway meant job security and an income to feed my mother, sister, brother, and me. His work on the coal-powered locomotives made it possible to become who we are today, though the coal dust in his lungs took him from us in the prime of his life.

Working for the railraoad provided us reduced travel rates, and offered an early view into the world beyond “Muehlhausen”. My brother and I hoped for the window seats of the train-car, for we knew an adventure was about to unfold. We were beyond exited, to sit at a window to the world, to see and to be explored. I never wanted the train-ride to end.

Throughout my life-time of travels, the train has offered exiting means for exploration, not available behind the wheels of the car nor in the seat of a 747. The comfort of having an expert, like my father, command the engines of a train was something to be savored. Winding through the countryside and mountain tunnels, often pulled by several steam-locomotives, creeping the hights and valleys of mountains was always a thrill. The passing world on a train still fills me with awe and wonder.

Be it a trip across the Southern Alps of New Zealand, or the ride from Adelaide across the Outback to the North of Australia, or a journey on the Trans-Siberian Railroad from London to Beijing, or whisping along the Rhine-River on the ICE train, the train-travel of a life time will surely be the new direct link from Beijing to Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

Controversy has surrounded the construction of this modern feat of engineering, but it is the pride of most people here in China. For the moment, transport of vital goods to the West of China is accomplished by gas-guzzling trucks, polluting roads and country-side, only to benefit Gas Companies, Rubber Companies, and Motor Companies.

Train transport is cleaner, less wasteful, and the special GE-engines give greater honor to the pristine environment, than tens of thousands of exhaust-rich, noisy convoys of trucks, polluting every mile of travel.

Consider an evironmentally friendly, fast, and comfortable train system connecting the cities of Miami, Orlando, Tampa, the Villages, Gainesville, and Tallahassee, rather than thousands of fuming busses, that pass through the fragile eco-system on the crowed high-ways of our beautiful Florida. The idea of such trains has been shelved by our leaders as too expensive, though approved by the voters, who seem to understand the environmental benefits of modern train travel.

But let comment be restrained, until I have the experience of a personal railroad-journey to this dream country, and with it acquire the benefit of additional information and facts.