Tibet & China linked with luxury train

A five-star tourist train is to be launched on the railway line linking Tibet and China. The luxury train will carry passengers in hotel-style comfort along the world's highest railway line, which links China's northwest province of Qinghai to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. Since opening six months ago, five regular three-class trains - specially designed to withstand the altitude - have ferried passengers through the inhospitable terrain.

The railway line opened on July 1, 2006. Vast swaths of it are built directly into the permafrost of the Tibetan plateau, and it soars to 5072 metres at its highest point, the Tanggula Mountain Pass.