Ticket prices for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway have been announced for the train from Beijing to Lhasa.

Prices are RMB389 for hard seat, RMB813 for hard sleeper, and RMB1262 soft sleeper.

Travel agencies in Beijing say this price range is about what they expected, so they expect to make a decent margin from the ticket sales.

Liang Yuan, Marketing Manager of China Travel International (CTI), says that the fare they pre-charged the tourists is RMB750 for hard sleeper, which is only RMB60 less than the new price.

In addition, a representative from China Railway Travel Service (CRTS) predicts that the Ministry of Railway might offer tickets that have not been booked for the train departing on July 1 to travel agencies, so it is still possible for them to send travel groups on the very first day.

However, there will definitely be limited tickets in the first half of July after the railway is put into operation, so group reservations are suggested to delay their plans until mid-July.

The train T27/28 will run 48 hours for the whole journey between Beijing and Lhasa.