THE Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'ning railway stations began to sell tickets for the first trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which start Saturday, at 8 a.m. yesterday () and all tickets for the train for Beijing were sold out within 20 minutes, the Beijing Evening News reported yesterday.

The tickets sold yesterday are different from other tickets as they have plateau travel tips in both Mandarin and Tibetan printed on the back as well as memorial stamps. Passengers were required to fill out a health form when buying the tickets, reported another Beijing-based newspaper, the Beijing Times. A nine-person medical team will also be on duty at the Lhasa station to help people fight altitude sickness.

Some Xi'ning and Beijing residents even arrived at the stations 12 hours before the counters opened and spent the night waiting in queues, the reports said.

"All the tickets sold here are full-distance ones and tickets from the departing station to a midway station are not available yet," said an official surnamed Gu with the Xi'ning Railway Station.

Beijing West Railway Station sells tickets for trains leaving Beijing between Sunday and next Tuesday today and tickets for the Beijing-Lhasa train between next Wednesday and July 8 will be sold tomorrow. On Saturday, the station will sell tickets for the July 9 Beijing-Lhasa train and tickets for trains leaving in the next 10 days.

Most of the tickets for the first trains were booked by travel agencies, which eye the opening of the railway as a good business opportunity.

Travel agencies in Guangdong Province said a 10-day Tibet tour by railway costs about 7,000 yuan (US$875) and 80 percent of such tours between Saturday and July 10 have been booked, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

The report also said the prices are expected to drop in September after the peak season.

Editor: Wing