The railway has linked Southwest China - once considered exotic, even by most Chinese - with the rest of the country. It has brought 1.5 million passengers to Tibet, accounting for nearly half of the total tourist arrivals of the past year.

But the railway has sparked concerns from environmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), about the plateau's fragile ecosystems.

"Once damaged, it is extremely difficult to restore," says Dawa Tsering, head of WWF China's Program Office in Lhasa. "Integrating local development needs with the conservation of Tibet's biodiversity is an urgent task that requires our attention."

Although an assessment by environmental scientists in June indicated no apparent damage to the environment along the route, an official with China's top environmental protection agency recently frowned upon the tins and plastic bags that littered the areas around several railway stations.

"The real test has only started," says Zhu Xingxiang, an official in charge of environment evaluation at the State Environmental Protection Administration.

In 2010, about 6 million tourists are expected to flood Lhasa, a city with 400,000 permanent residents. "Tourism will create mountains of garbage and sewage that would be far beyond the city's waste treatment capacities," Zhu says.

Currently, Lhasa allows its sewage water to flow into the Lhasa River. Its only sewage treatment plant became operational in January 2007 and was constructed to treat sewage water discharged from the railway station and its trains.

"Unprecedented economic growth, rising living standards, and job creation are transforming life, work and attitudes, especially of the young, in sparsely populated Tibet. And the railway is making a big difference," writes journalist N. Ram in the Indian newspaper, The Hindu.

More than a half century ago, Liu Guangfan trekked three months on camelback from Golmud City, of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa in order to build the first-ever highway on the "roof of the world".

The railway reduced travel time along the same 1,142-kilometer route to just 12 hours. And now, even Beijing is only 40 hours away.

"It's brought in tourists and a better life," says Losang Cering, a taxi driver in his 40s, who now earns more than 2,000 yuan ($266) a month - as much as four times the amount he could make as a peasant farmer before.

The railway has created jobs for many peasants in his village close to the Lhasa railway station. "Our village-run taxi fleet has expanded to 70 cars from 10, and the more enterprising young men have contracted civil construction projects and opened souvenir stores and hostels."

The tourism boom has boosted Tibet's retail market, enabling many peasants and herders to profit from sales of homemade yogurt, dried yak meat and souvenirs.

Qamba, who runs a dairy in Nagqu County, plans to buy more cattle and double the plant's current output of 1,500 kilograms a year.

"Traditional Tibetan dairy foods are very popular with the tourists," he says. "Many buy huge packages to take home."

The tremendous business opportunities created by the railway have brought in a staggering amount of investment from home and abroad - 4 billion yuan ($532 million) last year, close to the total of the previous five years, says He Benyun, vice-director of Tibet's regional development and reform commission.

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