For some city commuters, living near a metro station is not enough.

Residents in this building in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality literally live within the station. 

When city planners and engineers were asked to design a new train some ten years ago, instead of demolishing people’s homes, they designed one that runs through them. 

The light rail passenger train’s Liziba stop is in a hole in the center of this 19-storey residential block. 

"It's so convenient, with the metro station so close to home," says one young resident on her way to work. “I’m a bit late today. Luckily, it takes me one minute to get to the train station.” 

Chongqing has been called China's "Mountain City," built on towering hills. It’s a modern urban sprawl crammed with skyscrapers and millions of people. 

That means city planners need to be creative about making space count. 

“The population and geography of our city means it can be challenging to find room for roads and railway lines,” says one city transit official. “So we have to think outside the box.” 

Noise has never been a problem, as the station installed noise reduction equipment. The sound level of a train passing through is said to be under 60 decibels – no louder than a standard dishwasher. 

The train line has increased the value of the apartments. 

“We never have to worry about renting,” says Fan Chaoyuan, who owns an apartment in the building. “Everyone wants to live here.” The balcony where she grows plants and vegetables overlooks the train as it “disappears” into the apartment block. “And everybody wants to come here to see it,” she adds. 

Indeed. Yang Fang is a photographer from Shanghai, some 1,700 kilometers away. He came here just to film the rail line. 

“I saw it online,” he says, “and I just had to come. For a photographer, this is such an interesting visual.”