BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China, or the central bank, will issue a series of coins on June 23 to commemorate the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which is expected to start trial operations on July 1, sources with the central bank said here Thursday.

    The coin series include one golden coin and one silver coin, the bank said in a statement on its website.

    The golden commemorative coins bear the map of the railway on one side and Kunlun Mountains and illustrations in Chinese and Tibetan language on the other side of the coin.

    On one side of the silver coin is Lhasa Railway Station, with Yuante bridge on the Yangtze River, Tibetan antelope, wild yak and jokul are on the flip side.

    A total of 16,000 golden coins will be issued, with the denomination of 100 yuan and 36,000 silver coins with denomination of 10 yuan.

    The Qinghai-Tibet railway, the first rail line linking Tibet with the rest of China, is 1,956 kilometers long. Enditem