2006年7月1日,中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席胡锦涛专程前往青海省格尔木市出席青藏铁路通车庆祝大会,并为从拉萨开出的首趟旅客列车剪彩。青藏铁路从西宁至拉萨个长1956公里,是世界上海拔最高、线路最长、穿越冻土里程最长的高原铁路。西方舆论称它“堪与长城媲美” On July 1, 2006, Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, State President, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, made a special trip to Golmud City, Qinghai Province to attend the celebration of the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and cut the ribbon for the first passenger train from Lhasa. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which stretches 1956 kilometers from Xining to Lhasa, is the highest plateau railway in the world with the highest altitude, longest line, and longest permafrost mileage. Western public opinion calls it “comparable with the Great Wall”