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From the outside it looks like any other passenger train in China. It's painted that standard green, has 16 carriages, one driver and two backup drivers. However this train is far from run-of-the-mill. The interior is more impressive, but it's the route that makes it stand out. The train will run up to 120 kilometers per hour on the Roof of the World.

Official service on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Golmud, the second-largest city in northwest China's Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region starts on July 1.

But trial runs, such as one earlier this month, are necessary to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Of the new 1,110-kilometre stretch of track, 86 per cent is at least 4,000 meters above sea level.

At its apex, the route winds through the towering Tanggula Mountain Pass, which at 5,072 meters makes the new line the highest railway in the world 255 meters higher than the previous record-holder, a route running through the Peruvian Andes.

So, the first rail link between Tibet and the rest of China is also a matter of national pride.

Because of the thinness of the air on the route and the potential for altitude sickness, officials have taken extra precautions to help passengers enjoy the ride and keep health concerns to a minimum.

Early reports had speculated that trains would need to be pressurized like aircraft, since air at 4,000 to 5,000 meters usually contains around half as much oxygen as air at sea level.

But that was impossible, officials reasoned not only will the train pick up and drop off passengers at stations along the route, but the conductor will organize time for passengers to disembark for a better view of the scenery and wildlife.

Among the precautions, each carriage has an oxygen-generating cabinet. The oxygen is fed into two systems. One is like central air conditioning, ventilating each cabin. The other is an "emergency oxygen supply" system, with each passenger having access to a special socket, whether near the windows, under the seat or at the bedside.

It is the system's constant hum that reassures passengers the air is still OK.

Perhaps even more comforting is the news that at least one doctor will travel on each train when regular service starts, said Zhao Shiyun, chief engineer of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction Headquarters in Xining, Qinghai's capital.

For the passengers' sake

One of the first things passengers boarding the train will notice is the accommodation made to Tibetan language and culture. Although the number of attendants on board seemed not to have surpassed that on normal trains, each of them had attended training sessions on Tibetan language and ethnic traditions and, for the sake of foreigners who will certainly take this trip, crash courses in English, as well, said Jiang Xiaodan, one of the dining car attendants.

Even the attendants each had to pass a physical exam to be selected for this route. "Before I was selected to come here, I worked on a Beijing-Guangzhou train," Jiang said. "The checkups measured the respiratory system, and some of them failed, but I didn't. I really enjoy working here on the plateau."

The carriages themselves seem more spacious than those in other Chinese trains, and for good reason: Made by a Sino-Canadian joint venture, Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation Ltd (BSP), each carriage offers hard seats contains only 98 of them, compared with 108 in a standard hard-seat carriage.

Signs and high-tech screens display weather and altitude information as well as the names of upcoming stations in Tibetan, Chinese and English.

All the sliding doors were decorated with traditional Tibetan designs.

And passenger comfort is one of the goals of the train's designers. The conductor, whose surname is Zhang, said: "The soft seats are exactly the same as those on a plane easy to adjust to avoid sore backs and necks. And the windows are larger, and the glass is treated to screen out ultraviolet rays."

The soft sleepers feature various gadgets including a VCD player, a TV and an attendant call system.

Passengers can also recharge their mobile phones or notebook computers using available power sockets.

For the environmentally conscious, the train has vacuum toilets and sewage collecting tanks and solid waste compressors that use ultraviolet rays to disinfect features lacking on most other Chinese trains, though a new regulation has attempted to improve that situation. There is a bathroom for the handicapped.

A safe but green railway

Ever since the railway's construction began from June 2001, conservationists have raised concerns about the fragility of the region's ecology and wildlife.

At least 100 volunteers drafted by the Hol Xil (Kekexili) National Nature Reserve Management Bureau in Qinghai had disseminated environmental and wildlife protection information among construction workers since 2002, according to Yang Zhen, a Beijing resident who had volunteered on the plateau five times.

These volunteers sometimes helped collect the everyday rubbish and made sure builders did not pitch their makeshift tents just anywhere on the grassland.

Environmental protection was listed as a top priority for railway contractors since the beginning, and adherence to the rules was sometimes difficult.

Dai Lixu, an official with the China Railway Wuju Group Corp, which was contracted to build a 34-kilometre section of track between Damshung and Wumatang, east of Lhasa, said workers had been required to replant any and all vegetation that was destroyed during construction.

Contractors also have to be conscious of where wild animals, such as the Tibetan antelope, might migrate, with the hope that construction will not interfere. Bridges rather than causeways were built when the railway traversed wetlands.

Some experts say that once the railway operates regularly, the number of lorries will be lower on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, which was built half a century ago to transport nearly 85 per cent of the goods that go to Tibet.

Three-fourths of the 2.8 million tons of cargo expected to be transported annually to and from Tibet by 2010 would be carried by trains rather than by trucks, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a research report earlier this year.

That means vehicle exhaust on the world's roof is expected to be reduced.

Time to eat

As it takes about 12 hours to make the trip from Golmud to Lhasa, passengers will generally take more than one meal aboard the train. Railway officials even planned to make eating pleasurable.

The dining car seats 44 people at a time and has six chefs or assistant chefs all male and six servers all female. The car also has a mini-bar, but attendants recommend avoiding alcohol at such high altitudes.

The menu offers both Tibetan and Chinese dishes with fish and meats along with vegetables and rice. Some of it is pre-cooked and reheated when the customer orders it.

The waiting for the food allows passengers a chance to relax and enjoy the scenery through the carriage's large windows, which makes for a sumptuous appetizer: Yaks dotted the mountains, wild donkeys ran alongside the train, and lakes glistened like pearls in sunlight.

One meal also allowed diners to witness a full view of weather changes along the way: At one moment, it is balmy spring, with little tufts of red flowers all over; at another moment, it is biting winter, with snowflakes and even sleet battering the windows.

Aside from the usual challenge of cooking aboard a train, this route poses one particular problem for chef Zhou Quanwen. "We have to use pressure cookers in high-altitude areas," said Zhou, 40. "Otherwise, you get half-cooked rice."

As for foreign palates, "We won't have Western food right away," Zhou said, "but it is certainly something we'll consider in the future."

Destination: Lhasa

Since construction of the Lhasa Railway Station, the southern terminus of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, was not completed until June 20, the trial trains ended their voyage at the West Lhasa Station about 30 kilometers away.

Sitting near the southern bank of the Lhasa River, the Lhasa Railway Station is almost within walking distance of the famous Potala Palace.

The two-storey structure is a traditional Tibetan building. It is either painted red, yellow and white or constructed with materials that are naturally so colored, according to Zhang Qiang, a worker with the China Railway Construction Engineering Group, which is building the station.

"The use of colored cement is one of three things that make this station special," Zhang said. "Our wood beams in the main waiting hall are also reinforced with steel, and the VIP waiting rooms use gold leaf on the ceilings. This is rare among railway stations in China."

From the square of the railway station, where various building materials were still strewn, a white bridge crossing the Lhasa River only 5 kilometers away from downtown Lhasa, looks eye-catching against the backdrop of the grey mountain slopes.

When the route from Golmud does end at the Lhasa station, the train will howl out of a tunnel only tens of meters from the grand bridge, hurl itself onto it and blow its whistle, trumpeting its arrival at the terminal, safe and sound.

Thus ends the train ride, and yet although they've reached their destination, the passengers find instead that it is just the beginning of a trek to a mysterious land.

(China Daily June 23, 2006)