China has reached the world-class level in construction and management of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, said Railways Minister Liu Zhijun on Sunday.

In the past one year, the railway went through the test of seasonal changes and ensured safe transportation, giving great impetus to the economic and social development of Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, said Liu.

Technicians and workers made great progress in building railways over unstable permafrost, while railway departments achieved breakthrough in fighting high-altitude illness and rat plague, said Liu.

Pastures, water sources and wildlife along the railway were well protected, said Liu.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway stretches 1,956 kilometers from Xining, capital of Qinghai, to Lhasa, capital of Tibet, with the project of the 1,142-kilometer Golmud-Lhasa section being built from 2001 to 2006. The Xining-Golmud section was completed in 1984.

About 960 kilometers of the track is 4,000 meters above sea level, while 550 kilometers run over unstable permafrost which is prone to heaving.

Temperatures high up on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau can drop to minus 45 degrees in the winter.

Every day, a total of eight passenger trains and two cargo trains run in both directions on the railway, which had carried 2.6 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo since July 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2007)