CHENGDU, November 30, 2001 (Xinhuanet) -- The Qinghai-Tibet railway under construction will bring tangible benefits to the Tibetan residents and improve their living conditions.

    Xie Jisheng, an expert on Tibetology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, made the remarks Friday at a seminar in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

    The seminar focuses on how to promote modernization in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan ethnic areas in other Chinese provinces.

    The 1,100-kilometer Qinghai-Tibet railway, running from Golmud of Qinghai Province to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, will greatly accelerate the population moving between Tibet and China's interior areas, and can also enhance the connections between different Tibetan ethnic areas across China, Xie said.

    He added that Lhasa will grow into a plateau metropolis with a rich supply of goods and diversified cultural life.

    The long-term construction, follow-up maintenance work, passenger transportation and station service will bring enormous job opportunities to the Tibetans living along the railway, Xie said.

    He suggested that China's railway colleges set up special classes for Tibetan students to train them in railway management.

Zhuang Wanlu, a scholar with the Southwest Institute for Nationalities, said the construction and management of the Qinghai-Tibet railway could be fully dependent on local Tibetans.

    "This may bring them tangible benefits," Zhuang said.

    As it is difficult for outsiders to acclimatize themselves in the region, where the high altitude cuts the oxygen supply, few Han people will migrate to Tibet, and the population there will remain basically the same, according to experts.

    However, the railway will greatly reduce the traffic toll fees and help bring a heavy inflow of tourists, which will considerablyincrease the income of local Tibetans.

    Experts also suggested that the railway be linked up with the "Silk Road" -- now a tourist route but originally the passage famous for transporting rich cultural relics through northwest China. They said this will form the country's most lucrative tourist route.

    The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences will conduct a series ofsurveys along the railway, trying to identify the social changes the railway will brought to Tibet.

    More than 960 kilometers, or over four-fifths of the Qinghai-Tibet railway will be built at an altitude of over 4,000 meters. And more than half of it will be laid on earth that has been frozen for a long period of time.

    The railway project has passed the national feasibility appraisal and broke ground last June. Enditem