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Shi Jiangtao

2,000km into the journey, officials beam confidence despite a couple of minor glitches

Officials on the first train from Beijing to Lhasa expressed confidence with progress yesterday, halfway into the 4,000km journey, despite some minor problems.

As the train, which departed the capital at 9.30pm on Saturday, was about to enter the world's highest plateau, Zhu Zhensheng ,  a vice-director of the Tibetan Railway Office under the Ministry of Railway, said he was satisfied with the journey so far.

'The train is in fairly good condition, but there have been some minor problems,' he said.

For example, the train arrived in Xian and Lanzhou  yesterday some 10 minutes ahead  of schedule, the drainage system in some carriages was not working properly and the volume of rubbish  was much larger than expected, keeping cabin attendants busy.

'We have had several test runs in the past two months, but after all, it is the first train with so many passengers on board,' he said.

'These problems are not major ones and are easy to  resolve.

'We have technicians from the manufacturer's side - Canadian transport giant Bombardier - who keep making adjustments whenever needed.

'We will continue to make more adjustments in the first days of the train services until September.

'I think there will not be big problems during the rest of the journey. Even if problems occur, they will not affect the normal service.'

He Bingyi , a senior official from the Beijing Railway Bureau, said he was fully confident in the success of the first Beijing-Tibet  passenger train service.

'It is like a physical examination,' he told a group of Hong Kong reporters on board.

'We have done a lot of exercises in time and we have been prepared for emergency occasions.

'So you can rest assured,' he said.

According to Mr He, there are more than 100 staff on the train, including 47 passenger-service staff, three security guards and a number of technical staff to ensure the smooth running of the train.

'Most of the carriage attendants have high school graduation diplomas, with some even graduated from universities,' he said.

It had not yet been decided when the first trains to Tibet would run from Guangzhou and Shanghai, he said, and it was difficult to predict the number of tourists who would take the train outside peak seasons other than summer.

However, both Mr Zhu and Mr He denied a smoking ban imposed on the train during travel between Golmud , in Qinghai , and Lhasa was due to concerns that the oxygen supplied to compartments while the train was at high altitude might create a fire hazard.

'The ban is aimed at improving air quality in cabins,' Mr He said.

'Smoking will not cause fire accidents. We will discourage people from smoking, but will not impose any penalties.'

But rail attendants seemed to disagree.

'It is dangerous to smoke when permeated oxygen supply is provided,' one attendant said.



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First Beijing-Tibet run hits halfway point - early