Construction has begun on the Lhasa-Xigaze extension line for expected completion in 2010. It has a total length of 254 km, with a preliminary budgeted investment of 11 billion Yuan. Preliminary planning has also begun for the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, which is expected to be constructed in five years. This will then form a Sichuan-Yunnan-Tibet Railway, driving the economic and trade development between the western provinces and autonomous regions such as Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang and South Asia.

Oil Pipeline Transportation

The oil pipeline from Golmud to Lhasa is the only pipeline transportation route in Tibet, with a total investment of 232.94 million Yuan and a total length of 1,080 km. There are 11 pumping stations, and one oil diversion station along the route, mainly transporting gasoline, light diesel oil, coal oil for aviation and coal oil for lamps, with an annual transportation capacity of 230,000 to 250,000 tons. Since the operation in October 1977, the pipeline has transported some four million tons of oil. It has seen 30 years of uninterrupted normal operation. In 2007, 112,300 tons of oil was transported, down 1.6 percent.

Posts and Telecommunications

Since the 1980s, the TAE has speeded up the construction of posts and telecommunications services. Lhasa has joined the international and domestic automatic telephone network, and through program-controlled telephones, people can directly dial various places in China and more than 180 countries and regions. In addition, Tibet maintains express mail services with more than 200 large and medium-sized cities in the country. There are also two international postal lines, leading to neighboring countries via Zham Port and Yadong.

In 2007, the total value of postal services and telecommunications business in Tibet reached 3.093 billion Yuan, an increase of 43.5 percent. This included 133 million Yuan of postal services, up 18 percent, and 2.960 billion Yuan of telecommunications business, a rise of 45 percent. In the year, 66,700 phone lines were added, bringing the total capacity to 416,300 lines. The number of additional fixed telephone subscribers was 23,500, bringing the total number to 705,700, including 678,500 urban subscribers and 27,200 rural ones. A total of 300,000 mobile phone lines were added, bringing the total capacity to 1.10 million. There are 737,200 mobile users, 132,000 of which were added in 2007. At the end of the year, the total number of the fixed and mobile telephone subscribers reached 1.4429 million, an increase of 155,200 over the previous year and the telephone popularization rate reached 52 per 100 persons.

(China's Tibet Facts and Figures 2008)