Construction on a railway station in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, began Saturday, ushering in full-swing work on the line linking Lhasa and Xining, capital of neighboring Qinghai Province.

More than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) will be invested in building the station, which will have a total of seven lines and three platforms upon its completion, expected in 2007.

Located on the opposite side of a river from the Potala Palace, the railway station will become a local landmark.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, with a length of 1,956 kilometers, will be the longest plateau railway with the highest elevation in the world. Construction began in June 2001, and the entire project is expected to take six years to complete.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2003)