While high-speed trains are getting most of the hype these days, small local trains still serve a necessary purpose. In Daliangshan, a mountainous area in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, one of these trains is the lifeline of the ethnic Yi minority, carrying farm produce and animals. Wang Yuan has more.  

This is one of the only two pairs of local trains on the Chengdu-Kunming Railway. From Panzhihua to Puxiong, the journey takes nine hours. Residents affectionately call it their local car. The mountainous Daliangshan area in Sichuan Province is home to China's largest population of the ethnic Yi people. The train is the only way to go to the city to sell their produce or buy daily necessities.

One section is reserved livestock and poultry which are shipped to the market or sent to relatives. There can be a sizeable flock during national holidays. Daliangshan has been identified by the central government, as an area of concentrated poverty alleviation. Local authorities have kept the train fare as low as 2 yuan for local residents for more than 30 years.

LIU WEI 56334 TRAIN CONDUCTOR "It's not just a goat. It can be the source of tuition for a child and the income of a family. They depend on it to make a living. And they can only depend on this train for transportation."

The train has been in operation for 48 years, ever since the line opened in 1970. It's seen as the lifeline of the Yi people in the mountains. And it's hoped it can help pull them above the poverty line.