'The plan hasn't been cancelled,' said an official at the Railway Ministry who declined to be named.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported in early March, just days before deadly riots broke out in Tibet, that the train would go into service on Sep 1.

But an official at the Qinghai Tibet Railway Company, who also asked to remain anonymous, said on Thursday there was no timetable yet for the train's maiden voyage.

Xinhua said earlier a ticket of the 96-seat train, decorated 'according to the standards of a five-star hotel", would cost about 40,000 yuan (S$8,240), or 20 times the ordinary fare for a train ride to Tibet.

The company reportedly teamed up with a foreign partner to invest a total of US$150 million (S$211 million) in the train.

Government figures showed the number of tourists visiting Tibet in the first half of 2008 fell by around 70 per cent from the same period last year, following the violent unrest there in March.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say 203 people died in the riots and the subsequent government clampdown, but China has accused 'rioters' of being responsible for 21 deaths.

Beijing barred all tourists from going to Tibet until the end of April and foreign visitors were only allowed back in at the end of June. -- AFP