Nearly 300,000 passengers and 300,000 tons of cargo have been transported on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the past 100 days, but there has not been a single crime, a senior official said yesterday.

 

Since July 1 when the railway started operation, no criminal cases have been reported along the railway or onboard the train, and there have been "very few" public security problems, said Li Zhigang, deputy director of the public security bureau under the Ministry of Railways.

 

"We're optimistic that such good public security can be maintained," he said at a ministry press briefing yesterday.

 

He said there were some theft cases while the railway was under construction, but after an intensified police crackdown no such cases have been reported since it opened.

 

"Our investigation showed that none of the early cases were conducted by Tibetan people," he added.

 

Li said because local police departments in Tibet and Qinghai are short-staffed, the ministry had transferred about 500 policemen from across the country to help safeguard the railway.

 

"About 200 are still working there with their local counterparts," he said.

 

Local public security bureaus along the railway have been equipped with police vehicles that are suitable for plateau work.

 

Li said local governments in Tibet and Qinghai have also attached great importance to railway security.

 

The Tibet Autonomous Region has set up a 500-member patrol team, and Qinghai has similar team.

 

"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the first and only railway that links Tibet with other parts of China. It's crucial to maintain its security," Li said.

 

Ministry figures also show that the number of criminal cases involving railways across the country is on a steady decrease.

 

By the end of last month, the number had dropped by 18.63 percent over the same period last year. And last's year's number was a decrease of 22 percent from 2004.

 

In the just-concluded week-long National Day holiday, about 42.13 million people traveled by railway, 3.68 million more than last year. About 2.76 million people traveled by air during the holiday.

 

(China Daily October 11, 2006)