Surveyors have almost completed a location survey for a branch line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway that will extend from Tibetan capital Lhasa to Xigaze.

The First Survey and Design Institute of China Railway (FSDI), based in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has started the design work for the extension line to Xigaze, a major Tibetan city some 280 km to the southwest of Lhasa, sources with the FSDI said.

Construction is expected to begin this year on the 253-km new line with a design speed of at least 120 km per hour, the source said.

Upon completion, the first feeder line for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will be able to carry seven million tons of cargo a year, and eventually ten million, he said.

The new line is expected to go into operation into 2010.

FSDI started a feasibility study for the Lhasa-Xigaze line in February 2002, which was approved by the Ministry of Railways in May last year. The institute began an initial survey in October last year and then a location survey on Dec. 5.

Located in the southwest of Tibet Autonomous Region and bordering Nepal, Bhutan and India, Xigaze is the hometown of the 11th Panchen Lama -- Gyaincain Norbu, the 18-year-old leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibet ended its history without a railway in July 2006 with the operation of the 1,956-km Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The railway has prompted a huge surge in the number of tourists to Tibet, bringing the region billions of yuan in tourism revenue.