Feature: "All aboard!" Slow trains meander toward better life, future

CHENGDU, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Layi Aga, 76, broke into a smile as she recalled the day she saw a train pull into a railway station for the first time in her life.

The year was 1970. Accompanied by her husband, Layi trekked over 7 km along winding mountain roads in southwest China's Sichuan Province, with their one-year-old son cradled in her arms, only hoping for her first-ever rendezvous with a train.

"There were small red flags fluttering on the train. We waved at the people aboard, and they waved back at us," said Layi, an ethnic Yi resident from Mianshan Township in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

At that time, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, a major railroad trunk line linking Sichuan and neighboring Yunnan Province, was completed and put into operation.

The 5633/5634 slow trains traversing the Daliang Mountains heralded opportunities for better livelihoods, such as employment, healthcare and education, for residents of the faraway region.

Train stations were built in remote mountain villages and townships, and Mianshan was one of the stops.

BETTER LIFE, FUTURE

Opened to the public in 1970, the trains ply between Puxiong Township and the city of Panzhihua, covering 376 km in 11 hours at a speed of less than 40 km per hour, with 26 stops along the way. The fares range from 25.5 yuan (about 3.8 U.S. dollars) to 2 yuan.

In the past, the couple eked out a meager income for their livelihood by toiling countless hours in the fields. In around 1985, the husband died of a pulmonary disease, leaving Layi and their three sons to fend for themselves.

Following her husband's death, Layi set up a modest grocery store to sell daily necessities and shuttled between their farmland and the store to sustain herself.

On weekdays, she takes the 5633 train from Mianshan to Xichang City to replenish stock at a wholesale market. And on weekends, she takes the 5634 train in the opposite direction to run a stall at a fair in Nibo Township.

Layi, a regular commuter, lauded the railway service for its cost-effectiveness.

She said that the road from Mianshan to Xichang stretches about 72 km and making a round trip by bus is quicker, but it would cost 80 yuan. Though the round-trip journey by slow train takes about three hours, it only costs 10 yuan. The 70 yuan saved on the fares is the same amount as her store's net profit for a day.

The train is not just a mode of transportation for local residents, but also a "mobile bazaar."

Locals are encouraged to bring their farm products on board and trade the goods while commuting. To facilitate their journey, two rows of seats at both ends of each carriage have been removed, so that they can pile up their baggage and place their livestock and poultry.

For Yihuo A'niu, a ninth grader, the train is like her school bus.

Every Friday afternoon, she would board the homebound train, together with her some 700 schoolmates. The 140-km journey takes about four hours, but she can always find a way to break up the monotony by reading books, doing her homework and chatting with friends.

Yihuo will take this year's senior high school entrance exams beginning on June 13.

"I want to be admitted into the best senior high school in Liangshan, and become a good teacher or a brave police officer in the future," she said, adding that she aspires to explore the vast world outside the mountains.

SAME YET DIFFERENT

Liu Wei, who has been working on the trains for 29 years, felt that living along the railway was a lonely experience when he was a kid. "Only the sound of train whistles can cut through loneliness," said the 47-year-old lead attendant of his childhood memories.

Liu went to school daily by train. There, he would watch the villagers bargain and sell their wares and observe how the train attendants work.

"As a child, I was fascinated by the attendant's uniform," he said, adding that this fascination impelled him to become a railway worker after growing up. He started working on the train at the age of 18 after graduating from senior high school.

Over the years, he has developed a rapport with the train commuters. He often urges the students to do their homework and mediates disputes, and helps villagers find proper markets for their agricultural products.

There was once an old lady who was in her 70s and used to get on the train at Puxiong Station every day, sometimes carrying over 200 kg of potatoes collected from fellow villagers to sell in Ganluo County. For some eight years, she always took the same carriage and sat in the same seat. Liu often chatted with her.

One day, she did not get on the train. Liu asked other passengers and was told that she had passed away. Though he did not know her name, Liu felt like he lost a relative.

Liu has witnessed the changes on and outside the trains over the years.

Areas along the railway are no longer isolated. They are today filled with newly-constructed modern buildings. The goods that people carry with them have become more diversified, from primarily potatoes and apples to walnut, olive and building materials, among others.

In January this year, a "Fuxing" Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) left Liangshan for Yunnan's capital Kunming, marking the departure of the first "Fuxing" bullet train from the prefecture.

Despite such transformations, some things have stayed constant. The fares remain unchanged for more than 30 years and the trains continue to operate at their initial speed.

Though famed for having the longest high-speed railway network in the world, China still operates some 81 pairs of such slow trains. The services cover 21 provincial-level regions, transporting some 12 million people annually at an average fare of no more than 0.06 yuan per km.

China aims to extend its total length of operational high-speed railways to around 50,000 km by 2025. Meanwhile, the national railway operator has pledged to improve services and infrastructure of slow trains and related stations to ensure safe and comfortable trips.

"No matter how much the world changes and how fast the high-speed trains would become, the slow trains are still 'lifelines' for locals. I'm willing to do my job as long as I can, and see more children leave the mountains for better lives outside," Liu said.