China's Tibet railway set for inaugural run

BEIJING, July 1 (Reuters) First passengers on the world's highest railway were set to leave Beijing today bound for Tibet, a symbol of power and progress to China that critics say spells cultural and environmental loss to the Tibetan people.

The train departs in the evening and arrives in Lhasa 48 hours later, after a 4,000-km journey at altitudes reaching more than 5,000 metres on the Tibetan plateau, the first rail link between China and the roof of the world.

''It will change fundamentally the infrastructure of Tibet and raise the livelihoods of people in Tibet,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said of the 4 billion dollar project.

Critics fear the train will spur an influx of tourists and migrants who will erode Tibet's cultural identity. China says Tibet is an inseparable part of its territory.

''Tibet is a part of China. If any Chinese want to go there, that is their choice,'' said Jiang.

China's army occupied the Himalayan territory in 1950 to impose Communist rule. Nine years later Tibet's chief spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Tibetans in Dharamsala in northern India, where the Dalai Lama presides over a governent in exile, called a ''black day'' for Tibet. They have launched a Web site, www.rejecttherailway.com, in protest.

Yesterday, three overseas activists representing Students for a Free Tibet unfurled a banner at Beijing's main railway station reading ''China's Tibet Railway: Designed to Destroy''.

Police quickly detained them.

Today, Chinese television and newspapers were dominated by celebratory reporting on the new rail link.

China hopes the railway will boost Tibet's economy and reduce transport costs. According to Chinese statistics, Tibet's average economic growth from 2001 to 2005 was more than 12 percent a year, driven by injections of central government funds.

But critics say too little of that development benefits Tibetans who, with Chinese migrants already flooding in, are becoming an underclass excluded from prosperity.

''We're already seeing the marginalisation of Tibetans, and the railroad is the final achievement,'' said Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet.

''The railroad is a topdown project that prioritises the development of the military and the administrative state,'' she said.

Opponents also say the railroad, which crosses fragile highlands and protected areas, is an environmental peril.

The government counters that it has gone to unprecedented lengths to protect the environment, from carriages equipped with garbage compacters and vacuum toilets to special crossings for endangered Tibetan antelopes.

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