China Railway System: Old-fashioned steam train witnesses history and improves local lives

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The fast development of China's high-speed rail network is symbolic of the country's economic growth. But in a rural area of southwestern Sichuan Province, a coal-powered passenger steam train is still in operation. The train has been serving the local community for six decades. And today, it's becoming a tourist attraction. Our reporter Yang Jinghao has the story.

Loud whistles and thick steam, an old-fashioned green train inches across a small county in southwest China's Sichuan Province every day. It is allegedly the last passenger steam locomotive still in normal operation in China or even the world.

YANG JINGHAO LESHAN, SICHUAN PROVINCE "Another aspect that makes this time-honored vehicle special is its rail track. Its gauge measures 762 millimeters, only half the size of the standard one. Now let’s take a look at how it’s like inside the carriage."

Wooden benches, windows without glasses, one can even smell the coal that powers the engine while wobbling forward in the carriages without lights. Over the past six decades, the Jiayang steam train in the Qianwei County has been serving as the major commuting method for people living alongside the railway.

LI YUEYIN VILLAGER "I've taken this train since I was in my 20s. Now I am in my 60s, you can imagine how many times I've taken it over these years."

The Sino-British Jiayang Coal Mine was established in the town of Bajiaogou in 1938. 20 years later, the railway was constructed to transport coal. Even today, some elderly retired coal miners still clearly remember how the narrow-gauge railroad changed their way of working.

CHEN SHAORONG RETIRED COAL MINER "We had to carry the coal out of the town by manpower in the beginning. After the railway was opened, the coal was hauled by the small train to the dock and then ferried to Chongqing."

In recent years, some better-equipped sightseeing carriages were added to meet the needs of the growing number of tourists, who swarm to experience the so-called "living fossil of the Industrial Revolution", especially during spring when the train passes through the blooming flowers.

ZHANG DUO, GENERAL MANAGER TRAIN OPERATION COMPANY "Steam trains are getting increasingly rare. This train has gone through different eras over the past decades. We hope the younger generations can learn more about the history and culture by experiencing it."

The operator has a bigger development blueprint in the coming years. No matter how prosperous local tourism will be, or how fast the country's high-speed railway will develop, for locals, taking the shabby train to fairs, schools or homes of their relatives, will be their lasting habit, as well as a significant memory. Yang Jinghao, CGTN, Leshan, Sichuan Province.