China plans to make an additional investment of 5.5 billion yuan in the Qinghai-Tibet railway line, so as to ensure the complete construction of the railway by Oct. 2005 and trial operation on July 1, 2006.

The 5.5 billion yuan would be used to complete pre-depot work, build railway tracks and beams, promote post-depot work in a comprehensive way and improve environmental protection work, stated Liu Zhijun, Minister of Railways, at today's Qinghai-Tibet railway construction project work conference.

By the end of 2004, the Qinghai-Tibet railway had basically completed construction of the main roadbase, bridge and tunnel infrastructure, completed 29 of the 32 difficult construction projects. Construction on the remaining three projects has progressed smoothly, namely the Lhasa River bridge project, the Lhasa railway depot project and the railway tracks and beams project. The Qinghai-Tibet railway would also use GSM-R digital wireless communications for the first time and has completed tests of network and terminal equipment. Last year, the Qinghai-Tibet railway built 396 km of railway tracks. And, investment in the railway reached 8.8 billion yuan last year.