World's highest railway track stretches closer to Mt. Everest

The world's highest railway track now reaches even closer to Mount Everest, as China stretches the track connecting Tibetan cities of Lhasa and Shigatse.

According to CNN, The track is an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet line, an engineering marvel named the 'closest stretch of railway to the sky' after it first carried passengers above 5,000 meters in 2006.

The new track will pave railway connectivity from Beijing all the way to Shigatse Shigatse, a gateway to Everest, which lies just 240 kilometers (150 miles) away, on the border with Nepal.

Shigatse tourism department officer, Suolang Deji said that the railway would be inaugurated at the end of August and would initially carry Chinese visitors, report said.

With the arrival of the train, the journey from Lhasa to Shigatse would shrink from five hours of driving over terrain to two hours by rail.