Extended rail network to boost living standards and development

Boost for the province

The Jingjiu Railway winds through many impoverished regions in Jiangxi, mostly old revolutionary bases, and it has also fueled their transformation.

Before the line opened, there was no railway in the southern part of Jiangxi. Huang said the railway's existence has injected great vitality into Xinfeng and other cities in Jiangxi in the past 25 years.

The impact is most obvious in the transportation of agricultural produce－such as navel oranges, a noted crop in southern Jiangxi－and in the promotion of Red tourism in the region, which revolves around visiting significant sites in modern Chinese history.

In 1996, when the railway had just opened, Jiangxi's GDP was 141 billion yuan. Last year, the figure was 2.5 trillion yuan ($386 billion), government data showed.

Located near many of Jiangxi's most popular Red tourism sites, such as the Jinggang Mountains, Ji'an and Ganzhou stations saw the number of railway passengers rise by 130 times and 93 times respectively from 1996 to 2015, according to media reports.

Passing the torch

The quiet and monotonous railway work in the mountainous county may not present a challenge to Huang Changfei, who will retire in four years.

However, Huang Xinshun, who graduated with a railway-related degree from Southwest Jiaotong University－one of China's most prestigious schools on transportation－in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, has great plans.

Last year, the 26-year-old decided to become a station attendant in Ganzhou, his hometown, because he wanted to be close to his parents and take care of them.

Born in 1995, the year before the railway started operations, he came to Xinfeng station after working in other areas for several years.

At first, he found the disparity with Chengdu, a new booming city, depressing.

"For one thing, Chengdu has a fully fledged transportation system such as a metro, intercity trains and high-speed railways. But in Ganzhou, high-speed railways are scarce," he said.

He gradually changed his mind as he realized that working at a small station may actually provide more opportunities to display his expertise, especially in the application of new technologies.

"It is my great wish to put what I learned at university to better practice and make the railway service better in the areas around the old revolutionary bases," he said.

Positive changes are definitely happening. As part of the nation's project to build a high-speed railway connecting Beijing and Hong Kong, construction of a station in Xinfeng to handle bullet trains started in 2017. The facility is scheduled to open later this year.

In just a quarter of a century, Xinfeng has developed from a place with no railway into a promising area that is attracting young people to live.

That change could not have been achieved without the efforts of many railway staff members, who toiled night and day along the tracks.

With fresh fuel being added by the younger generation, the trains are expected to run even faster, in tandem with the county's development.