GOLMUD, Qinghai Province: The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest, begins operation on Saturday.

The first train will leave Golmud, the second largest city of Qinghai in Northwest China, for Lhasa, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in the morning.

The train leaves Golmud at about 2,800 metres above sea level, winds through the towering Tanggula Mountain Pass at 5,072 metres, and finally arrives in Lhasa at 3,650 metres.

A ceremony will be held at the Golmud Railway Station at about 9:30 am to see off the train, according to sources with the Ministry of Railways.

At least 1,000 journalists from home and abroad have come to Qinghai and Tibet to cover the event along the rail line.

People can witness the ceremony and the whole day's trip live on television, radio and news websites.

The first train from Golmud to Lhasa will carry governmental officials and reporters, not ordinary passengers.

But in the evening, passenger trains will run from three cities Beijing, Chengdu of Sichuan Province and Xining of Qinghai Province to Lhasa. The first train will leave Lhasa on Sunday morning.

Some 1,000 kilometres of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway's tracks are located at 4,000 metres above sea level.

The Tibet Autonomous Region's tourism administration estimated that an additional 3,000 to 4,000 tourists would arrive in Tibet daily once the Qinghai-Tibet Railway begins operation.

Local tourist destinations have taken measures to ensure precious cultural relics don't suffer from the increased numbers.

The Potala Palace in Lhasa will restrict the number of daily visitors to 1,800.

Liao Lisheng, an official with the Tibetan tourism administration, said that 960 out of the 1,800 tickets will be sold to travel agencies. Individual visitors can try their luck. But since reservations cannot be made, it is better to buy the tickets one day in advance.

詞匯：
autonomous region：自治區(qū)
cover: vt.報道
witness：vt. 目擊
relic：n. 遺物, 遺跡,
suffer from：v.忍受, 遭受
restrict：vt.限制
reservation：n.保留, 預(yù)定


作為世界上海拔最高、線路最長的高原鐵路，青藏鐵路于今天實(shí)現(xiàn)全線試運(yùn)營。它是通向世界屋脊的第一條鐵路。這項(xiàng)工程足以同長城或者三峽比肩齊名，雖然曾有人懷疑，不過青藏鐵路交出的答卷還是相對令人滿意的。最后一段，即連接格爾木和拉薩1142公里的鐵路線，耗費(fèi)資金330億元。

通車后，從格爾木乘火車前往拉薩只需12小時。青藏鐵路從西寧開始，穿過昆侖山和唐古拉山，全長1956公里，其中960公里的鐵路線位于海拔4000米以上，鐵路的最高點(diǎn)竟達(dá)到海拔5072米。唐古拉火車站的海拔高度為5068米，通車后，它將是全球最高的火車站。

因?yàn)樯礁撸鯕庀”?，高原鐵路沿線空氣含氧量只有平原的一半，這對車廂標(biāo)準(zhǔn)提出了特殊要求。每節(jié)車廂必須帶有供氧裝置，就象空調(diào)機(jī)一樣，為車廂供氧。每個乘客如同飛行空中一樣，備有一個呼吸面罩。此外，每次列車上都有隨行醫(yī)護(hù)人員，幫助人們解除高山缺氧反應(yīng)等不適。


沿青藏鐵路看雪域風(fēng)光

沿著這條雪域“長龍”，國內(nèi)外游客可以看到“世界屋脊”的雪山、湖泊、大漠、戈壁、草原、河流等多種特有地形地貌，雄渾壯麗的雪域風(fēng)光將給游人帶來新奇別樣的感受。

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