Back to Riding China’s Rails
(This article was written just before the terrible accident
on the new Beijing-Shanghai Super Express Train)

In the past two weeks there has been much fanfare in China heralding the new Beijing/Shanghai rapid express train running at more than 300 km per hour to make the 1,000 km run in four hours. Trial runs for VIP’s and journalists were shown in the media. Car seats were praised for their ultimate luxury. Pre-ticket sales were booming as people wanted to try this new “wonder” of China. July 1st saw the beginning of the official service which will grow to ninety trains a day running on the line each way.

China’s old trains are becoming increasingly replaced by rapid, yet very expensive, alternatives. When driving in Inner Mongolia last month I witnessed a massive project of yet another express railway line being built with the plan to open next year. Beijing~Huhehot will be covered in just two hours, instead of the usual twelve. More rapid routes are under construction or in the planning all over the country. This certainly is a boon to cities in the inland to connect them to the rich coastal areas. It is also getting a lot of people to work in the remoter regions. But when I heard the prices for tickets, many four times the price for the cheapest fare for the same distance on the old trains, I realized that for most Chinese, they would still rely on the regular lines despite the fact that recently under public pressure the government has promise to have affordable slower trains on the fast tracks as well. Other people have pointed out that the new railway express tracks are thus allowing old tracks for freight use. However, the great expense being paid for these new bullet train constructions is causing critical comments to flow among the Chinese public.

At this time of all the attention being given that sleek “white” Beijing/Shanghai train I choose instead to ride one of the old fashioned “lyupi che” (green colored trains). I would characterize them as relatively slow, but also steady, sturdy, safe, affordable and dependable. Taking such trains in China for me brings back all the memories of over twenty long trains rides I’d taken all around China since the early 1980s. Actually, that has been the best way to travel as in the past the airways were too unpredictable and good roads for most of the country were almost non-existent. Nowadays people who are well off opt for air travel or expressways and forgo this leisurely way to enjoy the countryside. In the 80s and 90s, too, it was one of the few opportunities to easily talk with ordinary Chinese people. Especially in the hard sleeper cars, everyone wanted to converse for hours on end. We shared food, played cards and swapped traveling advice. To me, that, in-itself, was the trip, not just the destination with its famous sites, but the learning about the land while getting there and the personal interaction were as precious as any photos I would take.

One route that I had yet to travel was the train between Chengdu in Sichuan and Kunming in Yunnan. It is famed for the scenery of mountains, rivers, ancient villages and its tunnels. I was set to ride the “Cheng-Kun” route, but due to landslides from heavy rains that had hit southwest China in the previous week, it had been closed for over two days. The tracks had crumbled at one location and photos of them dangling from a mountainside had flashed on TV screens across the country. Trapped passengers were safely evacuated and over 2,000 workers with twenty pieces of heavy equipment were rushed to the scene. People called me to say it would be best to fly. I was told that the previous day’s train had taken the circuitous route via Guizhou to get to Kunming. Luckily, when we got to Chengdu station it was announced that #K113, the 1:30 pm, would be the only one running that day, but didn’t know which route the train would take. As we boarded the train, the engineer decided he would take the original western route as it was hoped that reconstruction of the tracks would be completed by the time we passed the disaster site some seven hours later.

So with some trepidation because of the recent disruption and a possibility of being stranded, I was off on an 18-hour journey over this 1,100 km route. This is certainly long when compared with the rapid trains or airlines but shorter than the four-day ride from Beijing to Urumqi I did in ’84 and the Beijing to Moscow eight-day run I experienced in ’96. I was a veteran of these Chinese trains, and I settled down with comfortable nostalgia. Out of the window passed then rich paddies of China’s rice basket of Sichuan, the earth of the ancient Kingdom of Shu, later the land of Liu Bei’s Shu of the Three Kingdoms and more recently the homeland of China’s great modern leader Deng Xiaoping. Conductress Yang came to change the ticket for a hard card that would be exchanged again on arrival. That’s the old custom so I knew what was going on. Slippers and garbage bags are relatively new amenities. But I missed the old ceramic cups with the railroad logo. They had a cover so you could steam your tea-leaves or instant noodles in them. Today’s train was nicely air-conditioned which made me think back to some freezing or sweaty trips and the strong billowing of coal-burning smoke through the open windows of the past. On this train lighting with LCD bulbs has made the compartments brighter. Ms. Yang at 32 years of age is already a veteran of 15 years on this particular route. She was professional, but more courteous that some of the gruff conductresses I had known before. I could appreciate all these improvements.

In about two hours we crossed the Minjiang River to reach Emeishan Station. We could see the cloud covered peaks of the Buddhist sacred mountain as we then turned westward following the Daduhe River. It was swollen with the recent rains. Tea plantations dotted the low hills as we began to climb. It was from then that I began to count the tunnels. In one hour alone there were thirty tunnels! We were in what is known as a Yi Minority Autonomous County. Amazingly there were numerous factories in this remote region, especially iron smelting mills. A lot of strip mining has left large holes in the mountains. The train had turned south around 5:20, the tunnels now numbered sixty, and at six p.m. we had a ten-minute stop at Han Yuan. We were passing close to sites made famous in the Long March. One Red Army general made a blood brotherhood oath with the Yi leader of this tribal area and was thus able to lead his men safely through the territory. In Shimian county there is a memorial to the dangerous crossing of this Daduhe River in 1935. However, I had little time to ponder history as Ms. Yang was ushering us into the dining car in a hurry before the crowds came. It was smoky and noisy, but the food was decent and the price was right (180 yuan for three people). I counted ten more tunnels as I was eating.

Then the train began to slowly crawl as we approached the disaster site. We stopped at Ganluo for twenty minutes waiting for a go ahead sign. We heard that workers have been repairing the rails for three days and nights. We moved on slowly through ten tunnels, and at Baiguo station were crowds of men who have been part of this massive emergency endeavor. At eight o’clock we inched across the repaired tracks as the very first train to cross. I sort of held my breath, but the sight of these hundreds of workers, standing with their first meal of the day, a container of instant noodles, made me break into a big smile of gratitude and wave madly in acknowledgement of their accomplishment. Then the train picked up speed and we sped through the pitch-black countryside of southwestern Sichuan. By nine-thirty that night I had counted 116 tunnels, but I could no longer tell when we were actually in a tunnel or outside anymore. A large percentage of passengers disembarked at Panzhihua station at two a.m. It is a growing community, nearby is the site for China’s satellite launch, and is obviously very reliant on the services of this “lupiche”. At 7:35 a.m. K113 arrived on time at Kunming station. My train trip was over but I had a renewed respect for the old trains. Their sturdiness and fair price is fitting for 85% of China’s population and me, too.