BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A group of 28 journalists from both sides of the Taiwan Straits began their joint coverage on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway which began operation Saturday morning.

    Fourteen journalists are from Chinese mainland's media organizations, including the Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily and the China Central Television. The Taiwanese journalists are from the United Daily News, the Central News Agency and other seven media organizations.

    These journalists are among the passengers on the first train from Beijing to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which left Beijing at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

    After the ride on the train, the journalists will cover the social, economic development, local conditions and folk custom in Tibet. Then they will go to Qinghai to cover tourism, protection of Tibetan antelopes in the Hoh Xil nature reserve.

    "My colleagues and family envied my trip to Tibet by rail," said Hong Nianhui, a cameraman from Taiwan.

    Hong told Xinhua that he will focus his coverage on the special equipment on the train and the passengers.

    "To compare with my rides on other trains on the Chinese mainland, this one is more comfortable thanks to the spacious room," Li Luomei, another journalist said.

    "My family envied the trip but they worried that I might fall over altitude sickness. I am sure I will be OK," she said.

    China made history on Saturday by sending the first pair of passenger trains to the "roof of the world" along a miracle rail link between Tibet and the rest of the country.

    The world was watching as two inaugural trains, coded "Qing 1" and "Tibet 2", pulled out of their stations in Golmud and Lhasa, two start-off points of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest.

    Thousands of people dressed in festive costumes and speaking different dialects witnessed the historic moment at the two stations, shouting "Tashi Delek", a Tibetan expression meaning good fortune.

    Before the trains started, Chinese President Hu Jintao cut ribbons to mark the launching of the railway, which he praised as a "miracle".

    "The project is not only a magnificent feat in China's history of railway construction, but is also a great miracle of the world's railroad history," Hu, also general-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, told an audience of 2,600 on a square in front of the Golmud railway station.

    Saturday coincides the 85th founding anniversary of the CPC, and three more trains left for Lhasa from Beijing, Chengdu and Xining in the evening. Enditem