Image Source: Agencies

Aug 12, 2025: China is set to build the most ambitious rail link connecting Xinjiang province with Tibet, part of which will “run near” the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, according to a media report.
According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, the launch of a state-owned company to oversee the construction and operation of a line that will link Hotan in Xinjiang and Lhasa in Tibet is anticipated to kick off work on one of the world's most ambitious rail projects this year. According to the report, which was cited by the state-run Shanghai Securities News, the Xinjiang-Tibet Railway Company (XTRC) had been officially registered with a capital of 95 billion yuan ($13.2 billion) and was entirely owned by China State Railway Group in order to construct the project. “This ambitious project aims to establish a 5,000-km plateau rail framework centred on Lhasa by 2035,” Hubei-based Huayuan Securities said in a research note on Friday.
The registered capital of the project is the initial funding, not the total cost of the project. According to the report that was released on Saturday, for instance, the construction of the 1,800-kilometer Sichuan-Tibet Railway required an estimated 320 billion yuan (45 billion dollars). “Parts of the route will also run near the China-India LAC, the de facto border between the two countries, giving it defensive importance in a frontier area with less infrastructure than the rest of China,” the report said.
The Xinjiang-Tibet highway, also known as the G219 highway, was built by China as a massive infrastructure project along the route. It went through the disputed Aksai Chin area, which was a major flashpoint in the war in 1962. India asserts Aksai Chin as an integral part of its territory based on historical claims and past treaties.
The Xinjiang-Tibet Railway is one of four lines planned to connect Tibet with the rest of the country, with the other services linking the western region to Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the report said.
It stated that the Qinghai-Tibet line is operational while the other two are still under construction. China's Tibet region is well-connected by air, rail, and road. From Lhasa, it has a network of high-speed trains that run close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Importantly, China's plans for the new rail link between Xinjiang and Tibet come just after Beijing and New Delhi began normalizing relations, which had been suspended for over four years due to the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh. Aksai Chin is part of the region.
The relations began looking up after last year’s meeting in Russia between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
Beginning on August 31, Modi is anticipated to attend the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).