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A New Approach to Very-High-Altitude Land Travel: The Train to Lhasa, Tibet
Abstract
The train from Golmud in Qinghai Province, China, to Lhasa, Tibet, travels for more than 14 hours at an average altitude of 4500 m, the highest point being 5072 m (16 600 ft). Therefore, passengers are potentially exposed to very severe sustained hypoxia. The enterprising solution is to increase the oxygen concentration of the air in the train from 21% to between 24% and 25% by the use of oxygen generators in each passenger car. By increasing the oxygen concentration to 25%, the equivalent altitude is reduced by about 1200 m. The engineering challenge of oxygenating the whole train is immense but has been successfully accomplished. This is an extraordinary innovation in high-altitude transportation.
Article and Author Information
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Acknowledgment: The author thanks Tianyi Wu, High Altitude Medicine Research Institute, Xining; Bozhou Liang, Physiological Research Group of the Ministry of Railways, People's Republic of China; Yingshu Liu, University of Science and Technology, Beijing; and Zhong Tian, Qinghai Public Health Bureau, for discussions.
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Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
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Grant Support: From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, R01 HL 060968.
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Requests for Single Reprints: John B. West, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 0623A, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093; e-mail, jwest{at}ucsd.edu.
