An empty chartered train headed for eastern China's Xuzhou City to bring coal miners back to Shuozhou City on Sunday evening.

In line with the Chinese government's call to resume work and production in an orderly manner while the country continues to battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, many provinces in China are stepping up to help workers return by offering chartered transport, such as trains and airplanes. 

The chartered train set off from Taiyuan Railway Station in the capital city of north China's Shanxi Province on Sunday evening and arrived in Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province 15.5 hours later, where 606 coal miners were waiting. They work in 20 different coal mines in Shuozhou, Shanxi, a major coal production city in China. 

Before getting on the train, many were video-calling their families, who were worried about them amid the coronavirus outbreak.

They all passed local CDC's strict health examination before departure and were required to take separate seats on the train, keeping a certain distance from each other. 

Disinfections were carried out every three hours in all carriages and their body temperatures were checked every four hours.

As the outbreak is being contained, many of them said they felt happy to get back to work because the company needs them to resume production, and in return, they also need the salary for their families.

The train chefs had to keep working to provide around 2,000 boxed meals a day, ten times the normal meals provided during the Spring Festival travel rush. 

The train arrived in Shuozhou on Tuesday noon. All the miners will have a mandatory 14-day quarantine before resuming work.

Local officials said as more miners are put back to work, Shuozhou's coal production capacity is expected to fully resume in March to ensure sufficient energy supply amid the epidemic.