Back
International
Hu opens world's highest railway
| Another magnificent achievement in the modernisation drive, says President |
CROSSING A MILESTONE: The first train from the Lhasa station crosses a bridge on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway near Lhasa in Tibet, China, on Saturday.
Beijing: Amid fanfare, China on Saturday launched the first passenger train to Tibet, an event which President Hu Jintao said signalled the Communist nation's ``another magnificent'' achievement in its modernisation drive.
Mr. Hu, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, attended the launch ceremony of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest, in Golmud city in northwest China's Qinghai Province.
He said the opening to traffic of the railway was ``another magnificent accomplishment we have achieved in our socialist modernisation drive.''
Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad is a long-cherished dream of generations of the Chinese people.
``The project is not only a magnificent feat in China's history of railway construction, but is also a great miracle of the world's railroad history,'' the President was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
Mr. Hu said this had made it clear again that diligent and intelligent Chinese people were ambitious, self-confident and capable of continuously making extraordinary achievements and standing among the world's advanced nations.
Minister of Railway Liu Zhijun said the construction of the railway was a strategic decision made by the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council, China's Cabinet, and it was an unprecedented and difficult job in humans' history.
The railway is 1,142 km long, with 960 km of the track located 4,000 metres above the sea level and the highest point at 5,072 metres.
Exemplary workers
The ceremony was attended by about 2,600 persons, including exemplary workers who have made special contributions to the railway construction.
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.
At the railway stations in Golmud and Lhasa, the two start-off points of the railway, excited passengers posed for photos, some holding a mini flag of the Chinese Communist Party, as the event coincided with the CPC's 85th founding anniversary.
About 600 persons have taken the first train to Tibet, which is coded ``Qing 1.''
Among them are role models of builders of the railway, representatives from the Chinese government and journalists. The train also had ordinary passengers who have bought tickets on their own.
Red seal
A train coded ``Zang [Tibet] 2'' left Lhasa with 700 passengers. A red seal reading ``shoufa,'' meaning the first train from Lhasa, will be stamped on the train tickets after they pass the security checkpoint at Lhasa railway station.
Trains travelling on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway have 16 compartments each. Three more passenger trains will also leave for Lhasa from Beijing, Chengdu and Xining on Saturday. — PTI
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu