Highest railway station welcomes 1st Spring Festival travel rush
By Palden Nyima and Daqiong in Lhasa | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2026-02-14 14:13
Standing at over 4,700 meters above sea level in Nagchu, Xizang autonomous region, Yanshiping Passenger Station—China's highest railway passenger station—is embracing its first Spring Festival travel rush, bringing safer and more convenient journeys to about 10,000 farmers and herdsmen in four nearby townships.
Opened in late December 2025, the station ended 19 years of trains passing through without stopping since the Qinghai‑Xizang Railway opened in 2006.
According to the China Railway Qinghai-Xizang Group, the operator of the railway, the station has handled more than 4,700 departures and 4,400 arrivals in just two months.
"I'm from Metog, and this is my first Spring Festival service back home, helping local herders," Sangye Phuntsok, the station's only passenger clerk, as quoted by China News Service.
Together with two railway police officers, he assists passengers in the cold, with trains stopping for just two minutes each time.
Tashi, a local Tibetan villager, said his son, who works in Guangzhou, is returning home for the New Year.
"In the past, we had to journey all the way to Amdo county to catch a bus, which took nearly an entire day, but now, with the train stopping right at our doorstep, the trip home takes just about an hour," said Tashi.
"It's incredibly convenient."
