Floods disrupt trains from Tibet

Floods and other rain-triggered disasters in western China have disrupted train services from Lhasa, capital city of southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region, railway authorities said Monday.

A train scheduled to leave Lhasa for Shanghai, China's largest city, on Tuesday has been canceled due to floods and landslides in Shaanxi Province, said Wang Doje, a Lhasa Railway Station official.

The train line connecting Lhasa and Shanghai, the world's highest plateau railway, opened in 2006. Trains on the line depart every other day and a one-way trip takes 49 hours.

Most trains to and from Lhasa have to pass through Shaanxi Province, which was plagued by floods and other rain-triggered disasters over the last two weeks.

Trains from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to Lhasa on Sunday arrived almost 20 hours late, said Wang.

He said authorities have kept citizens informed of the train delays via local media and mobile text messages.

"We promise prompt service if passengers decide to cancel their trips or change their destinations," he added.

Rains on Sunday caused a landslide in Tibet's Bomi County that destroyed part of a highway linking Tibet and Sichuan Province, local police said.

"The rain caused cave-ins on at least 70 meters of the highway, stranding more than 700 people and nearly 300 vehicles," said Li Xianghua, a police officer in Bomi.

Repair work on the highway continued Monday.