Traveling along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway - the highest in the world - will be more costly than any other railroad in China, according to a State Development and Reform Commission report.

The study of the provisional fares levied on the service along the Golmud-Lhasa section of the railway revealed that prices for soft seats, hard sleepers and soft berths will be 0.09 yuan, 0.1 yuan and 0.16 yuan more expensive in terms of person/per kilometer than the state's regular pricing standards. Hard seat prices will be the same.

The fare for cargo transport is 0.12 yuan more expensive in terms of ton/per kilometer than the standard rate.

The provisional pricing for cargo and passenger transport on the plateau railway will be fixed and finalized after it is approved by the State Council, the country's highest government body, sources from the commission said.

The 1,956-km-long Qinghai-Tibet rail route, linking the capital city of Xining in northwest Qinghai Province to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, across the 5,000-meter-high mountain ranges, was completed in mid-October last year. It is taken as a national success for making the seemingly impossible possible.

The railway will promote cultural and economic exchanges between the landlocked Tibet and the outside world and will enhance the region's self-development capacity.

Cargo transport service on the plateau railroad began on a trial basis on March 1. It will also carry out a test run without passengers in May. A full-route trial operation of the railway will start on July 1.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)