06 February 2006
Chinese professor claims global warning threat to railway
(Kyodo; Xinhua) Thawing permafrost, the result of global warming, could threaten the Golmud-Lhasa railway within 10 years' time, according to research by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Sciences. Warmer ground could destabilise the 1,956-kilometre railway, Wu Ziwang, a professor from the academy’s Desert Institute said. The academy had previously found that the plateau's weather began warming in 1984, with the average temperature predicted to increase by 1 C by 2050. Wu also claims engineers used outdated technology, particularly on 100 km of causeways, to build the railway. "We use a lot of technology that other countries don't use", said Wu, 71, a permafrost engineering researcher for 40 years. Xinhua said builders of the railway could build bridges and "minor" environmental protection projects along the route to combat the threat of warming. Wu said he did not plan to tell government officials directly about his findings.