"I hope I'll have time to make a pilgrimage to the Ta'er Monastery in Qinghai," he said.

The Ta'er Monastery is one of the largest monasteries of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, it was built in memory of sect founder Tzongkaba (1357-1419).

Tubdain Damqoi, a Tibetan herdsman boarding the first train leaving Lhasa, lives in Nagqu Township, where a stop has been built. "Before the railway the furthest I'd ever been was to Golmud and a return trip on horse or motorcycle took me more than 10 days," he said.

"It's now so easy to go there by train," he said, adding that he will take all his five children to visit or work in big cities such as Xining, provincial capital of Qinghai, or even Beijing.