BEIJING, June 27 -- With less than a week to go before the Qinghai-Tibet Railway goes into official operation on July 1, many are very keen for a ticket to board the widely anticipated trains heading to the "roof of the world."

But most of us may have to wait until long after Saturday to set out on such a dream trip.

After all, as we learned yesterday, there will only be three pairs of passenger trains running between Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Beijing, Chengdu/Chongqing, and Xining/Lanzhou during the trial operation period.

So unless you want to be among the first to reach Lhasa by train, our advice is take your time.

You will definitely be rewarded with more ease and comfort if you show a little patience and skip the haste and hassle of the first trainloads of sensation seekers.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is not for the impatient. Its planning dates back more than 50 years. The Xining-Golmud section went into operation in 1984. And the building of the Golmud-Lhasa section did not begin until 2001.

No other railway in this country, or even in the world, has entailed such patience and meticulous attention on the part of designers and builders.

Overcoming the technical difficulties in laying rail tracks on such a long stretch of permanent frozen earth is certainly something for its builders to brag about.

For us, as well as those with legitimate concerns over the environmental impact of such an ambitious project, the most noteworthy aspect is the pains they have taken to minimize damage from construction activities.

Our own fact-finding missions to the building sites along the rail line tally with official reports of damage-control measures in the building process.

Thanks to their constant bio-environmental awareness, you will not see tangible wounds on the Gobi desert or pasture on your way to Lhasa. And, if you are lucky, you may see Tibetan antelopes crossing the railway through specially designed passage ways underneath the tracks.

It is a great consolation to learn that endeavours to preserve the fragile biological and environmental conditions will extend beyond the construction process.

Latest reports have it that, in addition to the garbage storage centres and sewage processing stations along the railway, there will be a special "garbage train" each week to collect and take all garbage to Golmud for treatment.

To make your first train trip to the mysterious "third pole" of Earth a truly enlightening and enriching experience, you have more than exotic scenery to appreciate.

When it is your turn to enjoy the well-preserved natural sites, be it boundless green grassland or azure-blue lakes, you may not notice what the railway builders have done.

But if you can appreciate what they have been through to guarantee you see the best Mother Nature has to offer, you may want to think what you take to Tibet and what you bring back.

You, too, can help Tibet retain its image as a pure and holy land.

(Source: China Daily)