'Five Star' train launch postponed

BEIJING: The launch of a "five star" tourist train service from Beijing to Tibet scheduled for Monday has been postponed, the operator said on Saturday.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation (QTRC), operator of the train service, had announced in March that the service would begin on September 1.

"There is no detailed schedule yet. But I can confirm it won't start in September," Li Shunping, senior engineer of Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation (QTRC) was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The company did not provide any reason for the delay, though Xinhua said some local media had that delivery of the carriages could be the reason.

The carrier manufacturer, Bombardier Sifang power, based in east China's Shandong Province, told the Qingado Morning Post that the carriages would be delivered in February as scheduled, Xinhua reported.

It also said the train would have 12 passenger cars, two dining cars and a sightseeing car. each passenger car would have four 20-square suites with double beds and bathing facilities.

Wang Yongping, a spokesman of the Ministry of Railways, wrote in his personal blog that the train should be called a sightseeing train, rather than a luxury train.