Tibet Autonomous Region

　　 Tibet Railway

Map Of Tibet

Tibet Photos

Construction

Route&Schedule

Train Station

Itinerary

Map of Railway

Golmud

Golmud means "a place concentrated with rivers" in Mongolian. North of the city is the "salt bridge", built across the playa of Qarhana Saline Lake. The road is a dreadful bucking-bronco ride because it lacks a firm foundation being built on salt. The bridge is not a conventional bridge, but a causeway across a salt lake. We are told that potholes are filled by simply pouring in the hypersaline lake water.

Mt. Kunlun and Mt. Tangula traverse the entire region with a large number of snow-capped mountains, glaciers, rivers and lakes. Among the lakes, alkali flats, swamps, oasis and rolling dunes in the flat basin, Chaerhan Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the world, with an area of 5,658 square kilometers, giving Golmud its nickname "Salt Lake City".

Golmud has a population of about 120,000 and is the second largest city in Qinghai. The principal industry is potash processing, although the oil industry is growing in importance. Several oil fields with substantial oil reserves are located in the extreme western end of the Tsaidam Basin near Gas Hu (Gasikule Lake) about 450 kilometers west of Golmud.