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1st train from Beijing leaves for Tibet

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-02 09:08

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday attended a launching ceremony held at Golmud, a start-off point of the landmark Qinghai- Tibet Railway in Qinghai Province, and cut the red ribbon for the railway's opening.

He delivered a keynote speech at the gala held at the Golmud Railway Station, saying that the opening to traffic of the Qinghai- Tibet railway is another magnificent accomplishment the country has achieved in socialist modernization drive.

Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad is a long-cherish dream of generations of the Chinese people, Hu said.

Hu said that this successful practice has made it clear again to the people at large that diligent and intelligent Chinese people are ambitious, self-confident and capable of continuously making extraordinary achievements, and they are ambitious, self- confident and capable of standing amongst the world's advanced nations.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1,956 kilometers long, with 960 km of the track located 4,000 meters above the sea level and the highest point at 5,072 meters. It stretches from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa.

The section of 814 km from Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984 and the Golmud-Lhasa section started construction on June 29, 2001.

The railway is the world's highest and longest plateau railroad and also the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China.

It is projected to help double tourism revenues by 2010 and reduce transport costs for goods by 75 percent in Tibet, officials said.