"The whole project is going very well now. The railway will be paved up to Lhasa by the end of the year. We're sure that the whole railway will be ready for trials by next July 1," said Sun Fuqing, vice-minister of railways here yesterday.

After four years of construction, much of it in extremely rugged terrain, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project will be ready for testing in less than a year.

Workmen are currently completing Lhasa Railway Station, the biggest transport station on the line.

 Accompanied by the sound of drills and sledgehammers, members of the central government delegation to Tibet to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region visited the under-construction station and greeted the workmen yesterday.

Jia Qinglin, head of the delegation, spoke highly of the railway: "The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a landmark project that is part of the government's drive to develop the country's western regions. It will benefit the development of Tibet's communications and tourism, and promote economic and cultural exchanges between Tibet and other parts of China."

Work on the project began on June 29, 2001. The railroad starts from Golmud in Qinghai Province, and stretches a distance of 1,142 kilometres to Lhasa in the south. About 960 kilometres of the track are over 4,000 metres above sea level, with the highest point 5,072 metres. In addition, 550 kilometres of the line are laid on frozen earth, according to Sun.

"When completed, it will be the highest and longest highland railroad in the world," Sun said.

Tenzin, a worker on the Tibet Railway Station project, said: "All of us hope that the whole line can be completed at an early date. It will only take 48 hours to travel from Lhasa to Beijing."

On the construction site, only one narrow route is available for workmen and vehicles to pass through. Tenzin said it is to protect the ecosystem along the railway.

Wetlands and the vast expanse of frozen earth are also carefully protected along the railway, according to Vice-Minister Sun.

On Monday, 200 bar-headed geese were released into the wild at the highest swamp in the world Lhalu Wetland Nature Reserve after being raised by humans for 18 months. "It is the first time in China that artificially-bred bar-headed geese have been released into the wild," said Ding Feng, a researcher with the Nida Research Base of Wild Animal Breeding in Lhasa.

(China Daily August 31, 2005)