Highland Freight Development: From Going to Running

Thousands of miles of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the black freight train is like a steel dragon crossing the Kunlun, crossing the Sui and Tanggula, and passing through the vast grassland of the Qiantang River to the Lhasa West Station. The cargo piled under the canopy is like the Rubik's cube, always neat but changing.

At 9 o'clock on the January 2nd, after the handover of workers at the Lhasa West Railway Station Business Office, as time went by, the owner who came to the business office to handle business gradually grew. At the “Colorful Hada” business center, the reporter saw Zhou Yangquan, the head of a logistics company. He started business in Tibet for more than ten years and started as a ceramic tile business. In 2005, Zhou Yangquan captured the huge business opportunities brought by the railway and opened a logistics company.

Zhou Yangquan told the reporter: “Recall that when the railway was not opened in the past, we mainly depended on the transport of automobiles. When we pulled goods out of Lhasa, we would need four or five hundred yuan per ton. The transportation costs are very high, and we must overcome the plateau of oxygen and cold weather. In addition, since the opening of the railway in 2006, we have truly felt the benefits of the railway's rapidity, high speed, and low transportation costs. Over the past few years, the staff of the Lhasa West Railway Station have been trying to solve problems with warmth and thoughtfulness. Guaranteed the normal operation of our company."

At Lhasa West Station, there are plenty of shippers with the same ideas as Zhou Yang. In the past six years, Lhasa West Station has developed the dream of the majority of cargo owners. It has developed a freight yard in a temporary tent less than 10 square meters and developed into a high-quality goods yard. The average annual increase in cargo traffic is 58%. Driven by its radiation, modern commercial logistics centers have mushroomed and contributed to boosting Tibet’s economic and social development.

Zhu Bin of Golmud Haotian Logistics Co., Ltd. is responsible for transporting cement and raw coal from the Mainland to Lhasa. He said: “The Qinghai-Tibet Railway has been completed and its capacity has been kept up, and its benefits have also been kept up.” As a shipper who grew up with Lhasa West Station, Zhu Bin believes that although Tibet’s railway freight business started for only 6 years, it can Lhasa has always been making unremitting efforts in tapping potential, improving efficiency, and transporting and unloading. At the end of 2011, they built a new freight business building. Last year, they built a new warehouse for loading and unloading equipment, and hardened the ground in the freight yard. At the end of last year, they opened an online cargo handling business. Shippers can submit their transportation plans through the Internet. Checking the plan approval status online is very convenient.

According to reports, the Lhasa West Railway Station will continue expansion and reconstruction in 2013, build a platform for the development of logistics in Tibet and the interior, support Tibet to become a large, competitive and advantageous industry, and strive to give full play to the advantages of the railway’s predecessors and vanguards.