Earlier this month, I got the chance to rattle along the "roof of the world" on part of the newly-constructed Qinghai-Tibet railway.
The train's trial run, ahead of first passenger service set to begin July 1, rolled along a 1,100-kilometre-long new line on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, linking Nanshankou Station in Golmud, the second largest city in Northwest China's Qinghai Province to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Oxygen enriched
Because of the thinness of the air en route, each carriage has an oxygen-generating cabinet. The oxygen is fed into two systems. One is like air conditioning, ventilating each cabin. The other is an "emergency oxygen supply" system, with each passenger having access to a special socket, whether near the windows, under the seat or at the side.
Perhaps even more comforting was that I heard there would be at least one doctor travelling on each train when the regular service starts.
Broader inside
As I wandered through the train, I found the train rather different from others in China.
The carriages themselves seem more spacious than those in other Chinese trains, and for good reason: made by a Sino-Canadian joint venture, Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation Ltd (BSP), each carriage offers 98 hard seats, compared with 108 in a standard hard-seat carriage.
Signs and high-tech screens display weather and altitude information as well as the names of upcoming stations in Tibetan, Chinese and English.
All the sliding doors were decorated with traditional Tibetan designs.
And passenger comfort was the focus of the train's designers. The conductor, whose surname was Zhang, told me: "The soft seats are exactly the same as those on a plane, easy to adjust to avoid sore backs and necks. The windows are larger, and the glass is treated to screen out ultraviolet rays."
The soft sleepers feature various gadgets including a VCD player, a TV and an attendant call system.
Passengers can also recharge their mobile phones or laptops using available power sockets.
For the environmentally conscious, the train has vacuum toilets and sewage collection tanks and solid waste compressors. There is also bathroom for the disabled
All aboard for Lhasa
(Beijing Weekend)
Updated: 2006-06-30 10:50

Destination: Lhasa
Our train howled out of a tunnel only tens of meters from a grand bridge, hurled itself onto it and blew its whistle, trumpeting its arrival at the terminal, safe and sound.
The next day, I took a look at Lhasa Railway Station. Sitting near the southern bank of the Lhasa River, it is almost within walking distance of the famous Potala Palace.
The two-storey structure is a traditional Tibetan building. It is painted red, yellow and white or constructed with materials that are naturally so colored.
"The use of colored cement is one of three things that make this station special," said Zhang Qiang, a worker with the China Railway Construction Engineering Group, which built the station.
"Our wood beams in the main waiting hall are also reinforced with steel, and the VIP waiting rooms use gold leaf on the ceilings. This is rare among railway stations in China."
For passengers, the end of the train ride will be just the beginning of a trek to a mysterious land.

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