The two sections of the first railway tunnel under construction in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been connected on december 24, after almost six months of hard work of local railway builders.
The tunnel, which is located 13 km away from Lhasa, the regional capital, is part of the 1,118 km-long Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Tibet, where a 548-km section of the railway will be constructed, has poor geological conditions and high altitude averaging over 4,000 meters. Twelve railway constructors have been sent home due to the lack of oxygen.