The Qinghai-Xizang railway, well known for its magnificence and high technology, has been threatened by the sand disaster. 

The Qinghai-Xizang railway is the highest railway on the world, and the sand disaster is the one of the most difficult problems in spring for the Qinghai-Xizang railway. 

In the first year of the Qinghai-Xizang railway running, the railway sand disaster amounted to more than 270 kilometers, including the most serious section 43 kilometers, the more serious section 55 kilometers and the serious area more than 170 kilometers. 

In order to protect the Qinghai-Xizang railway to defense the sand disaster, scientists from Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI) invented the protective system to defense the sand disaster. 

Qu Jianjun, a researcher at the CAREERI, said their team use the sand-blocking fence and the stone-checkers sand-barrier and excavate the sand ditch to defense the wind and sandstorm. These sand protection facilities constitute the protective system. 

The protective system strengthens the mechanical sand prevention, protects the alpine meadow and grassland ecosystem, and recovers the desertification meadow and grassland.  

At present, the sand disaster along the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Xizang railway has been controlled effectively, the vegetation along the sand disaster section of the Qinghai-Xizang railway has recovered, and the phenomenon that the sand burying the bridgehead and the turnout has been eliminated basically. 

This research achievement has been passed the evaluation of the Qinghai Science & Technology Department.