The first passenger train on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is scheduled to set out at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday from Golmud City in northwest China's Qinghai Province and head for its terminal--Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, authority sources said on Friday.

About 600 passengers will board on the train that drives on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed the "roof of the world".

Each passenger has been given a notice card about train facilities and tips on altiplano travel.

Some builders of the plateau railway and journalists covering the event will join the passengers.

The railway uses sealed, oxygenated cars to cope with the thin air and high-tech cooling to keep the frozen track bed stable, according to the experts with the Railway Ministry.

The cars were installed with environment-friendly toilets, wastewater deposit tank and garbage treatment facilities with the aim to protect environment along the railroad.

Meanwhile, all the Chinese words that appear on the electronic screen in each railway car are translated into Tibetan and English.

Two oxygen supply systems have been installed on the train. One is a "dispersion-mode" oxygen supply system, with oxygen spreading to the air in the railway car through the air-conditioning system.

The other system, like that of an airplane, offers each passenger individual access to oxygen, and passengers who experience breathing difficulties at high altitudes can use a pipe to suck up more oxygen.

All railway cars are equipped with double-layer glass which is covered with anti-ultraviolet radiation film.

With 1,142 kilometers section of the railway between Golmud and Lhasa running along Kunlun Mountain and Tanggula Mountain, 960 kilometers of the railway will be above 4,000 meters, with the highest point at 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's most elevated track.

To protect the natural environment along the railway, special sewage collection devices have been installed. All the waste is disposed of at the terminus.

A special rubbish compressor has also been installed in each car to avoid litter being strewn along the railway. The train is also equipped with special toilets for disabled .

The 25T series train is designed for a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour, and it has reached 120 kilometers per hour during the test runs in previous months. The experts said even when running through the highest point on the Tanggula Mountain, the speed of the train can reach 80 kilometers per hour.

Two freight trains a day will also run on the line, mostly taking agricultural products and handicrafts out of Lhasa and bringing food, construction materials and other goods in from the rest of China.

The railway is the first to connect the Tibet Autonomous Region with other parts of China. It is one of China's key projects in the west, which demonstrates the Chinese government's determination to bring prosperity to the Tibetan people and promote economic development of the vast western areas in China.

Source: Xinhua