Here's the official information from China's tourism website about the Pan Himalayan which is officially the "Qinghai-Tibet Railway" http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Tibet/171193.htm

Tibet - Towards a Solution

Here is my proposal for a "win win" situation in Tibet:

Given that most of the people of China want a strong connection with Tibet and Tibet wants and needs a strong connection with China:

* China grants greater autonomy to Tibet in a relationship that is modelled after Hong Kong and respects Buddhist traditions and the right for people.

* Tibetans agree to work with China to make this relationship beneficial to all.

* China continues to build on the region's infrastructure, including the Pan Himalayan Railway.

* Tibetans embrace tourism as their primary agent of economic development, recognizing that the cultural and religious history of the region is a very powerful theme for travel marketing and a dramatic increase in regional tourism.

* China agrees that the region will be the key beneficiary of the tourism boom that will come from regional stability and national promotion of the wonders of Tibet.

* Tibetans will share their cultural and religious traditions as much as is culturally comfortable for them. The region can become another jewel in China's tourism crown as the country prepares to become one of the world's top travel destinations.

Pictures from the Pan Himalayan

This site has some amazing pictures of the Pan Himalayan route:
http://linkdonkey.blogspot.com/2006/11/highest-railway-in-world.html

China and Tibet's ongoing conflict led to the closure of the railroad during much of my trip to China last month, though I was not planning to take the train on this trip anyway. I did ride from Hong Kong to Shanghai on the overnight train with sleeper and then Shanghai to Beijing on the speedy train. Both were very clean and the trip very interesting although a bit long given the lack of much natural scenery.

Hong Kong Railway Station

I´m sitting in the Hong Kong Hum Hong Kowloon railway station, and even though this post has nothing to do with the Pan Himalayan Railroad I felt I needed to write something.

Tibetan conflicts 2008

Protests by Tibetans against Chinese have sparked a lot of violence in the region. I don't know how this affects train travel or tourism in that region, but Lhasa appears to be under some form of information blockade:
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/03/14/china-fire-on-the-streets-of-lhasa/

If you are planning a trip on the China trains to this region it might be wise to contact the US State Department for travel tips, though the violence is clearly not directed at Americans.

Pan-Himalayan view from Kathmandu

Here's an interesting blog post about the Pan Himalayan from a guy from - I think - Kathmandu in Nepal: http://semplate.blogspot.com/2006/07/pan-himalayan-railroad.html



He seems to think that the western presses concerns about how the railway could damage the Tibetan cultural landscape are foolish, and that the route is more likely to bring benefits than disadvantages to the region and perhaps on to Nepal.

Lhasa, Tibet

Here's a great article at Wikipedia about Lhasa, your final stop on the Pan Himalayan Railway.

China's relationship to Tibet is controversial and somewhat tragic. I'm not familiar with all the issues so I'll wait to post more until I understand this controversy.