Nie Can still feels sorry thinking of the time when his wife gave birth alone.

Nie Can holding his newborn daughter poses with his wife Ma Cui in Cangxi county, Southwest China's Sichuan province on Jan 26, 2012. [Photo/Zhu Linlin provided for chinadaily.com.cn]

As a conductor of T8 train running from Chengdu to Beijing, Nie left Chengdu, capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan province, on the morning of Jan 23 which was the first day of 2012 Chinese New Year.

The next day, his wife Ma Cui gave birth to a baby girl at home in mountainous Cangxi county in Sichuan.

After six hours of bus ride, Nie arrived at the county on the evening of Jan 26. Instead of taking a rest, he spent four hours on washing the napkins of his daughter, as he had to return to Chengdu the next day to work on Jan 28.

Like Nie, many railway workers also could not spend the Spring Festival at home this year.

Feng Xiaoling, a crew member of K284 Train administrated by Chengdu Railway Bureau, was on the train during this Spring Festival.

A native of Jiangyou, Sichuan, Feng has worked in the railway sector since 1983.

“I have spent the festival at home only eight times,” recalled Feng who gave her son, also a worker with the same bureau, a fish as the Spring Festival gift.

Travelling on the uninhabited land in the Xining-Golmud section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Dong Jianrong, a broadcaster of T22 Train could not watch the Spring Festival gala on TV and the festival firecrackers.

She and her colleagues on the train performed programs created by themselves to amuse themselves and passengers.