The track-laying of Qinghai-Tibet railroad has finished 645 kilometers accounting for 56 percent of the total mileage. Currently the track-laying is proceeding from Naqu town to Dangxiong county.

It is the full-scale pushing ahead year and the national government has planned to allocate 6.2 billion yuan for the construction of Qinghai-Tibet railroad in order to finish the principal part of the project, including the roadbed of the whole line, bridges and tunnels. Track-laying of Qinghai-Tibet railroad started in Tibet on June 22 and on October 9 reached a main town in north Tibet - Naqu town.

The symbolic project of Qinghai-Tibet railroad - the off-line project of Lhasa Station has been basically completed by October 18 while work on the Lhasa River Bridge has been completed more than 70 percent and will be formally open to traffic in the first half of the year 2005.

The railway, the first to link Tibet with rest of China, is expected to reach Lhasa sometime next year and open to traffic in July 2007, Liu Xinke, an official with the leading group of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction under the Ministry of Railway, was quoted as saying by earlier reports.

Sprawling on the Tanggular Range, described as a mountain "insurmountable even by eagles," the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the most elevated railway in the world with a maximum altitude of 5,070 meters.

China began construction of the railway in 2001 at a cost of 26.2 billion yuan (3.16 billion US dollars). The Chinese government expects the project to boost Tibet's social and economic development, helping local residents improve their living standards.

The railway entered into Tibet at Amdo County, some 440 kilometers from Lhasa in June this year. It ran into Nagqu, an important area in northern Tibet, in early October.

During the past three years, railway constructors have solved a series of technical difficulties stemming from track-laying on frozen earth. Workers also fought against oxygen deficiency.

Tibet covers an area of more than 1.2 million sq km, or about one eighth of China's territory. It is the only provincial area in China without an inch of railway. About 90 percent of the 2.7 million Tibetan people live on farming or livestock breeding. Poor traffic conditions have been one of the major obstacles for the modernization of Tibet.

People now travel to Tibet mainly by air or automobiles. In 2003, more than 928,000 tourists visited Tibet.

By People's Daily Online