A passenger train carrying newly recruited soldiers left Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, on Friday, heading for Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

It is the first time the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is used for transporting troops, according to sources with the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

In the past, all the troops entering or leaving Tibet had to be transported by air or road, but in the future the railway will become a main option for the armed forces to transport troops, the sources said.

The 1,956-km-long plateau railway was put into official operation on July 1 of last year. Now, it transports about 75 percent of goods between Tibet and other parts of the country.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2007)