The schedule has been set for the first five trains to Tibet via the new Qinghai-Tibet railway which will begin trial operations on July 1, an official with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company said Friday.

The first five trains will depart from Beijing, Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Xining, capital of the northwestern Qinghai Province, Shanghai and Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong Province, according to Mao Baocheng, deputy general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company.

Trains bound for Tibet will depart daily from Beijing, Chengdu and Xining. There will be departures from Shanghai and Guangzhou every other day, Ma added.

Tickets for the first trains are sold out.

The 1,956-kilometer-long Qinghai-Tibet railway is the world's highest and longest plateau railroad and also the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with other parts of China.

Some 960 kilometers of its track are located 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's highest altitude railway.

The railway will have two oxygen-enrichment systems on trains to combat the effects of altitude sickness.

The oxygen level in the carriages will be about 85 percent of that in low-lying plain areas, said Ma, adding that oxygen masks will also be installed near seats for passengers in case they are affected by the high altitude.

Zhang Fuhua, an official with the Qinghai tourism administration, expects an additional 800,000 travelers will visit Tibet with the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

Qinghai is working fast to build its tourism infrastructure so it can better cope with the increase in tourists, Zhang said.

China's Qinghai-Tibet railway will begin trial operation on July 1 this year, and it has attracted large numbers of travelers to go sightseeing in Tibet.

To date, train tickets for the six lines to Tibet, including from Beijing to Lhasa, have been booked up by travel agencies, according to railway sources.

The 1,142-kilometer-long Qinghai-Tibet railway, which runs across the frozen tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from Golmud of Qinghai to Lhasa, is the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with other parts of China.

With the trial operation of passenger trains, tourists will find it more convenient to travel to Tibet, since the railway is comparatively low-cost and safer than other transport means, said Ma Baocheng, deputy general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company.

For travelers to have sufficient time to enjoy the natural beauty on the plateau, the passenger trains will depart in the morning and arrive in the evening.

Meanwhile, this world's highest and longest plateau railroad will have two oxygen supply systems on trains to combat the effects of altitude sickness on passengers.

Oxygen will come from a system like central air-conditioning on trains, which can ensure the oxygen content in carriages at about 85 percent of that in plain areas, said Ma, adding that oxygen masks will also be installed near seats for passengers to use incase they still feel sick.

About 800,000 more travelers will visit Tibet by way of Qinghai with the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, said Zhang Fuhua, an official with the Qinghai tourism administration.

Qinghai is making efforts to speed up the tourism infrastructure construction to cope with the increase of tourists, Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2006)