Automation insulates work on Qinghai-Xizang Railway
Tech used to make life on the line easier in harsh, high-altitude environments
At the Nagchu railway workshop, situated 4,500 meters above sea level, workers once gave a simple flight of stairs a grim nickname: the "deadly 23 steps".
The staircase is short. On the plains, one would scale it without a second thought. But in the thin air of the Northern Xizang Plateau, climbing it after hours of outdoor labor leaves railway signal mechanics gasping for breath, their lips turning a distinct hypoxic blue and their limbs heavy.
"Even walking could leave us short of breath," maintenance worker Zhang Huxiong recalled. "But we still had to carry tools and get the job done."
For Zhang, the nickname captures something outsiders often miss about the Qinghai-Xizang Railway. The difficulty of keeping trains running on the world's highest rail line is not always found in dramatic moments. More often it is found in the body's reaction to an ordinary staircase.
