A planned luxury train to Tibet has been postponed for the second time in a year, the operator said Monday, adding the global slowdown – not simmering tension in the Himalayan region – was to blame.

Tangula Luxury Trains, which was expected to launch high-class tours from Beijing to Lhasa in April this year, said it would delay the start of package holidays on the world’s highest railway until spring 2010.

“The rescheduling of our official launch was a very recent decision and was taken by our management in light of the current global economic climate,” a Beijing-based spokeswoman told AFP.

China will launch “the most luxurious train in the world” to ply the route from Beijing to Tibet’s capital Lhasa, state media reported Sunday.

However, a ride on the train, which will begin operations on September 1, will be about 20 times more expensive than the ordinary fare of about 2,000 yuan (280 dollars), Xinhua news agency said.

“The interior of the train will be decorated according to the standards of a five-star hotel, making it the most luxurious train in the world,” said Zhu Mingrui, general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation.” Such a train can only seat 96 passengers.