China News Service, Qujing, Yunnan, November 8th. Title: Half carrying passengers and half going to the market: Wumeng Mountain slow train turns into a mobile "country market"
China News Service reporter Chen Jing
At about 9 a.m. on the 8th, train No. 5652 stopped at Wuguantian Station in Qujing City, Yunnan Province. Vegetable farmers carried poles and baskets on their backs and boarded the No. 5 carriage. They sat down on the long seats installed along the wall, and their vegetable baskets were lined up in order. The quiet carriage suddenly became lively.
"Here we don't have to occupy the aisle, and we don't affect other passengers. We are free and comfortable." Tang Qiaozhen, a 65-year-old vegetable farmer who lives in Wangjiazhuang Community, Qujing City, has been riding this train for more than ten years. Every morning, she would pick fresh vegetables from the field and take a train to Wuguantian Station, a 10-minute drive from her home, to sell vegetables at the Qujing Farmers Market. For a 29-kilometer journey, the ticket only costs 7 yuan (RMB, the same below), and the price has not increased in more than 30 years.
"On October 1 this year, Car No. 5 was upgraded and renovated. Half of the trains retain regular passenger seats, and the other half is freed up to open space, with long seats and a scale for vegetable farmers along the line to display mountain products." Train 5652 announcer Chen Yanlei said that this "half passenger, half market" special car has turned the slow train traveling through the Wumeng Mountains into a mobile "country market."
Train 5651/5652 runs between Kunming Station in Yunnan Province and Hongguo Station in Guizhou Province. The total journey is 261 kilometers, with a total of 16 stations, and the journey takes 5 hours and 38 minutes. Its predecessor has been in operation since the early 1980s and is a "lifeline" for people along the route to go to school, seek medical treatment, buy and sell, and work.
"I raised two sons on this railway." Aunt Jin, a 58-year-old vegetable farmer, is also from Wangjiazhuang Community. Her family has 20 acres of land and grows cabbage, radish, etc. She is also good at picking wild konjac, wild mushrooms and other mountain products. During holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, as well as when wild mushrooms are on the market, the dishes are often sold out before they arrive at the station, so she goes to Qujing City to purchase New Year goods before returning home.
As the road is built to the "doorstep" of her home, Aunt Jin sometimes takes a country minibus, which can take her directly to the Qujing Farmers' Market from her doorstep.
Train 5652 has a capacity of 579 people, and the usual occupancy rate is only 15%. Chen Yanlei said, "Fellows have more and more travel options, but we insist on running this train to facilitate people along the route in need."
Today, with a dense high-speed rail network, Yunnan still has four "slow trains" running through deep mountains and forests.
"It's not that the train doesn't run fast, it just slows down." Chen Yanlei said that because it must stop at every station, the 5652 train with a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour is currently running at less than 60 kilometers per hour.
For the convenience of vegetable farmers, a convenient "treasure box" is also prepared on the train. Chen Yanlei introduced that there were binding ropes, cloth bags, tape, fresh-keeping water bottles, etc. She also took out a stack of change from her pocket, "Although mobile payment is very convenient, we still prepared cash."
Chen Yanlei, who has worked on trains for 15 years, recently observed: travelers, railway enthusiasts, photography enthusiasts, train fans from all over the country... They are specifically looking for slow trains that are still running to experience Chinese rural life.
69-year-old Fu Shikai is one of them. He is a retired train driver from China Railway Kunming Bureau Group Co., Ltd. Now he travels all over the country with a camera on his back to take pictures of slow trains.
"On the slow train, you can see the Chinese people's warmth, fireworks and rural sentiments in addition to their pursuit of efficiency. It connects tradition and modernity." Fu Shikai said on the 5652 train, hoping that such trains will continue to run.
