---- Ein Güterzug mit flüssigem Cargo fährt auf den Guanjiao Verlängerung Schiene der Qinghai-Tibet Eisenbahn in Tianjun County, Haixi der Mongolen und Tibe
--FILE--A freight train with liquid cargo travels on the Guanjiao Extension Rail of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in Tianjun county, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest Chinas Qinghai province, 21 July 2009. Chinas Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the worlds highest rail system, is being threatened by desertification on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a result of global warming, experts concluded after conducting a probe. About 443 kilometers of the 1, 956-kilometer railway are in areas affected by desertification, including 103km that lie in seriously desertified areas, Wang Jinchang, a senior engineer with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, said. Wang cited research showing that the threat of soil erosion has grown very fast in recent years, mostly near rivers and wetlands from Golmud and Lhasa, and the amount of affected rail tracks almost doubled from 2003 to 2009.
