With the coming of the Tibetan New Year's Day which falls on Sunday this year, people in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been busy preparing for the most important festival.

More than 250,000 herdsmen and farmers celebrated the new year in their new houses thanks to a comfortable habitation project launched by local government.

Government statistics show that the region invested about 2.5 billion yuan (US$320 million) in housing projects in 2006.

The 1,956-km Qinghai-Tibet railway witnessed the first Spring Festival transportation days. The railway was put into operation on July 1 of 2006.

Wang Xinwen, head of the Lhasa railway station, said the station sell tickets around the clock in spring festival transportation period between Feb. 3 and March 14.

Various activities have been planned for the Tibetan New Year period, such as family outing and horse racing.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2007)