Slow train, the secret to growers’ success
High-speed trains, providing links to hometowns and running as fast as 350 kilometers per hour, are a source of pride for most Chinese people.
But in a mountainous part of southwestern China’s Yunnan province, apple growers are grateful for the prosperity brought by a line on which trains travel at just 40 km/h.
December is the harvest season for apples in Zhaotong, Yunnan, and it’s common to see farmers carrying baskets of apples at Zhaotong Railway Station each morning, waiting to board the train bound for Guiyang, capital of neighboring Guizhou province.
The train leaves Zhaotong at 10:30 am, and after 18 stops in total over a distance of 407 km, arrives at Guiyang at 7:39 pm. The trip of more than nine and a half hours costs only 54 yuan ($8.48).
The service, which opened in 2003, also passes 10 stations in small mountainside villages, becoming the most important way for rural residents to connect with the outside world.
Xiaolongdong village is next to Zhaotong South Railway Station, a very small station. The village is home to more than 2,600 families and nearly 90 percent of them grow apples for a living.
The main local income is from an 800-hectare apple orchard with an annual output of 18,000 metric tons.
Villager Ma Yongzhi, 54, has been growing apples for 32 years. He remembers the helplessness of waiting for clients to visit the village and buy apples, as well as the bitterness of having to sell apples for a low price.
Another grower, 30-year-old Ma Xiaoyu, said: “An apple grower’s annual income is from 40,000 to 180,000 yuan in our village. Without the train service, it’s difficult for us to take apples to the outside world or to sell them for a better price.”
The train not only takes apples out, but also brings agricultural technicians to Zhaotong to help farmers boost production.
Ma Yongzhi, who is also the head of the village, said about 30 to 40 tons of apples are transported by rail every day.
Train staff help farmers sell their apples.
Train conductor Xiang Xiaobo registers information about apple sellers and buyers during harvest seasons and helps them exchange information to close a deal.
Last year, he helped farmers match up with 10 clients and sell over 200 tons of apples.
Train staff also promote apples in broadcasts to passengers, so farmers can sell some on the train, and the local railway department has added a cargo car at the end of the train where apples can be stored.
One of the stops the train makes is in the industrial city of Liupanshui in Guizhou, where a small apple market has sprung up thanks to the train service. At the market near Liupanshui Railway Station, some 20 stalls operated by farmers from Zhaotong allow them to sell apples to city residents. During harvest season, the number of stalls can swell to more than 50.
Although China’s high-speed railway network now stretches for 38,000 km, making it the longest in the world, railway authorities continue to run regular speed train services to benefit residents such as the apple farmers of Zhaotong.