The first passenger train from southwest China's Chongqing to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, began its 3,654-km journey on Sunday.

The train, with 14 passenger cars, left Chongqing Railway Station at 7:20 PM and is expected to arrive in Lhasa at 6:28 PM on Tuesday. It is the first train between the two cities to run on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which went into operation on Saturday.

The train will stop at stations of major cities such as Xi'an, Lanzhou and Xining, capital cities of northwest China's Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

Another train carrying around 600 passengers from Golmud, northwest China's Qinghai Province, arrived at Lhasa Railway Station at 00:31 a.m. on Sunday, marking the end of a maiden train run on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway stretches 1,956 km from Xining to Lhasa. Some 960 km of its tracks are located 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's most elevated track.

Meanwhile, the first train from the Chinese capital Beijing, carrying some 800 passengers, started its 4,060-km journey at 9:30 PM Saturday from Beijing West Railway Station and will arrive in Lhasa at 8:58 PM on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2006)