China builds railway to Tibet
When I was in Tibet five years ago there was talk on the streets that the Chinese had asked the Swiss to build them a railroad from mainland China into Lhasa. The benefit of a railroad from China to Tibet is extraordinary - for the Chinese. Tibet is said to have the most resources left on the planet - oil, coal, gold, copper, iron - you name it and its there - the problem always was that no transportation system was in place to get this out of town - it was one of the last barriers for the Tibetan culture to flourish and holding back the majority of the Chinese to rip the land of its culture, goods and spirituality.
Now the Swiss told the Chinese that this could not be done - a railroad following the bus route from Golmud to Lhasa - the most stressy bus route on earth where every year people die of altitude sickness traveling with the beaten busses on the earthy path - would not be feasible. So then I have not heard about any attempts since then - until today. The Chinese will open the railroad that will ultimately destroy the nature, spirituality and culture of Tibet in the next 20 years (seeing what they have already been doing without the railroad this will just accelerate the destruction). If you want to have a glimpse of what Tibet was about go now or otherwise all you will see is the Chinese Tourist Version of what once was the holiest sacred place in the world.
And here a nice layouted 70 pages PDF that shows the real motivation and history of the China-Tibet Railway.