Track-laying had been completed on 645 kilometers of the Qinghai-Tibet railway by October 18, accounting for 56 percent of the total length of the railway, sources with the railway construction headquarters announced on Tuesday.

Construction on the 1,142-kilometer Qinghai-Tibet railway is moving steadily toward Damxung County in central Tibet, according to the railway construction headquarters based in Lhasa, the regional capital.

The railway, the first to link Tibet with rest of China, is expected to reach Lhasa sometime next year and open to traffic in July 2007, Liu Xinke, an official with the leading group of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction under the Ministry of Railway, was quoted as saying by earlier reports.

Sprawling on the Tanggular Range, described as a mountain "insurmountable even by eagles," the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the most elevated railway in the world with a maximum altitude of 5,070 meters.

China began construction of the railway in 2001 at a cost of 26.2 billion yuan (US$3.16 billion). The Chinese government expects the project to boost Tibet's social and economic development, helping local residents improve their living standards.

The railway entered into Tibet at Amdo County, some 440 kilometers from Lhasa in June this year. It ran into Nagqu, an important area in northern Tibet, in early October.

During the past three years, railway constructors have solved a series of technical difficulties stemming from track-laying on frozen earth. Workers also fought against oxygen deficiency.

Tibet covers an area of more than 1.2 million sq km, or about one eighth of China's territory. It is the only provincial area in China without an inch of railway. About 90 percent of the 2.7 million Tibetan people live on farming or livestock breeding. Poor traffic conditions have been one of the major obstacles for the modernization of Tibet.

People now travel to Tibet mainly by air or automobiles. In 2003, more than 928,000 tourists visited Tibet.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2004)