Special Report: Qinghai-Tibet Railway

    GOLMUD, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend a launching ceremony of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the first ever rail link to the "roof of the world", Saturday.

    The grand ceremony will be held this morning in Golmud, a start-off point of the landmark railway in northwest China's Qinghai Province, to mark the railway's opening to traffic.

    Hu will deliver an keynote speech at the ceremony to be attended by about 2,600 people from various circles, including a vice premier of the State Council, the minister of railway, as well as Party chiefs of Tibet and Qinghai.

    Some 100 exemplary workers who have made special contributions to the railway construction will also attend the ceremony, which is to be presided over by Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan and held on a square in front of the Golmud railway station.

    The Qinghai-Tibet railway stretches 1,956 km from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa. The section of 814 km from Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984 and the Golmud-Lhasa section started construction on June 29, 2001.

    The railway is the world's highest and longest plateau railroad and also the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China.

    Passengers have started boarding the first pair of trains that will take them to a ride across the "roof of the world" later on Saturday.

    The trains will roll out of their stations at around 11:00 am, sources said. Enditem