The first passenger train service between the island province of Hainan and the Chinese mainland began running on Sunday evening.

The train set off from the island's capital of Haikou destined for Guangzhou, Guangdong.

The journey lasts 12 hours, including 55 minutes of ferry time, and crosses the Qiongzhou Straits. A one-way ticket for a hard seater, the cheapest ticket, costs 138 yuan (US$16).

Li Shaohua, an official from Guangdong-Hainan Railway Co., said that the service provides a new option for travelers to Hainan, a popular tropical tourist destination.

It is an 18 hours' journey from Guangzhou to Haikou by ferry and the minimum price of a flight between them is 250 yuan (more than US$30).

An accident at Haikou station marred the day: at 6:15 PM an electrician was hit on the neck by a lamp that had fallen from a 30 to 40-meter-high column.

According to a doctor in Haikou Emergency Center, the electrician is named Luo Rixin, from Hubei Province, and is 41 years old. His condition is still serious as the hit caused cerebral concussion and neck marrow trauma.

(Xinhua News Agency and China.org.cn December 6, 2004)