During National Day Holiday of 2006, trains from Shanghai and Guangzhou headed for Lhasa

China on Tuesday (October 3) put a new passenger train into service to Lhasa from Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province. The train ride takes 57 hours and 21 minutes to cover the 4,980-kilometer distance, which might be the longest rail journey in this country.

The express train left Guangzhou at 10:29 a.m. on Monday and is expected to arrive at Lhasa at 19:50 p.m. on Thursday.

From October 5, there will be one express train from Lhasa to Guangzhou every other day. The train will leave Lhasa at 08:32 a.m. and arrives in Guangzhou at 07:37 p.m. the third day. China opened the 4,373-km Shanghai-Lhasa passenger train service on Sunday (October 1), arriving at 19:50 p.m. on Oct. 3.

By Friday, the 1,956-km Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest railway, carried 380,500 passengers to Lhasa since entering service on July 1, said Sun Yongfu, director of construction for the plateau railway.

Let's ride the sky train into or out of Tibet!

On July 1, 2006, China's President Hu Jintao was at newly renovated Golmud Train Station cutting the red ribbon for the launch of the first train to Lhasa and declared another magnificent feat made by the Chinese people after completion of the Three Gorge Dam.

The first train coded as "Qing 1"gradually left the station at 11:05 am on Saturday and took its maiden trip across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It finally arrived at Lhasa's brand-new Train Station at 00:31 on July 2, proclaiming the end of no train whistling on the roof of the world.