Dear Living in China,

I am writing a book proposal for the publishers Marshall Editions on top rail journeys of the world. Please can you give me any facts about the Luxury train on Qinghai-Tibet Railway - the engine, facilities, capacity, speed, distance, itinerary, cost etc, and if/when it is due to start operating.

Thanks

Gilly Cameron Cooper

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Dear Gilly Cameron Cooper,

I am sorry to tell you that at the moment the details for the luxury train are not available yet. We only know that according to reports of local media, the Luxury train on Qinghai-Tibet Railway (from Xining to Lhasa) is expected to open this July. The luxury train will have one dining carriage, one carriage for generating electricity, and the other 12 carriages will be sleeping carriages. Each carriage will have four bedrooms, each of which has its own independent bathroom. In both dinning carriage and sleeping carriage, there are large sightseeing windows, Tibetan arras on the wall. The dinning carriage will provide both Chinese food and western food.

Last year, our staff reporter Li Xiao took a journey through the newly opened Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and he gave a detailed description of the train trip. Please visit following links for more details:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Track/177366.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Tibet/171193.htm

(China.org.cn February 15, 2007)