The Shanghai Railway Administration decided on Tuesday that the new Shanghai-Tibet train service would go into commercial operation on Oct. 1, China's National Day.

The 4,373-kilometer journey will take 53 hours and 13 minutes with the train running on sections of the Beijing-Shanghai, Lianyungang-Lanzhou, Lanzhou-Xining and Qinghai-Tibet railways.

The trains, departing every other day, will be composed of 15 carriages - two soft sleeping berth carriages, seven hard sleeping berth carriages, four hard seaters, one dining carriage and one for staff members.

A hard seat will cost 406 yuan (about 50.8 U.S. dollars), a sleeping berth 800 yuan (US$100) and a soft berth 1,300 yuan (US$162.5).

Ying Huigang, vice director of the administration, said the carefully-selected train stewards had been trained about how to deal with problems related to altitude and also been taught about Tibetan religious customs.

Tourism to Tibet has surged since the Qinghai-Tibet Railway went into operation on July 1.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2006)