The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company has hired 16 Tibetan and English translators as many passengers come from Tibet and abroad, according to the Ministry of Railways.

Every service has been equipped with one Tibetan and one English translator to create an "obstacle-free" communication environment for passengers, said the ministry.

The translators would be paid around 3,000 yuan (US$390) a month, said an official with the company.

The ministry said the company would also employ language teachers to train all the attendants so that they are able to converse in both languages.

In addition, the company has established "green channels" for VIP passengers and set up sight-seeing platforms at some stations.

This year Tibet expects to host three million tourists and earn 3.4 billion yuan in tourism revenue, said Jin Shixun, director of the Development and Reform Commission of the Tibet autonomous regional government.

In the first five months alone, Tibet received a record 672,000 tourists, up 82 percent from the same period last year.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the first to link Tibet to the rest of China, runs between Xining of Qinghai province and Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. It was opened on July 1 last year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2007)