From June 16th to 18th, a media group of nearly 50 journalists, online influencers, and commentators participated in a promotional campaign titled "My Railway Scenery: Traversing the Yanshan Scroll, Appreciating the Beijing-Chengde Railway Landscape." Over three days, they journeyed through the Yanshan Mountains to document the warmth and strength along this railway line. The reporters explored how public welfare slow trains are driving a hundred-kilometer fruit and vegetable industrial belt and recorded how a railway line is providing stable support for the real economy.
The Relay of Fast and Slow: The 'Market Train' Connecting Daily Life
On the Beijing-Chengde line, "fast" and "slow" alternate daily. Departing from Beijing Chaoyang Station, the G3535 high-speed train reaches Xinglongxian West Station in just 37 minutes. In contrast, the 6419 public welfare slow train covers the entire 238-kilometer route in 7 hours and 3 minutes one-way, stopping at every station, with a hard-seat ticket priced at only 27.5 yuan. Despite the difference in speed, the warmth remains the same. The 6419/6420 trains underwent a comprehensive upgrade in 2025, replacing old carriages with air-conditioned ones, adding large luggage storage areas, and widening the aisles. Yet, locals still affectionately call it the "iron bus" due to its unchanged ticket price and uninterrupted service over decades.
In the Liudaohazi area, markets are held on the second and seventh days of the lunar calendar. On market days, the number of passengers traveling by train to these markets increases significantly. Tongzhou West Station opens its waiting hall 30 minutes in advance, arranges staff at ticket gates during peak hours for continuous boarding announcements, and establishes a full-process assistance mechanism for key passengers, providing one-on-one services such as wheelchair assistance, personal guidance, and priority boarding for passengers with mobility issues. Before departure, staff arrive early to guide passengers orderly onto the train—these seemingly minor details piece together the most authentic image of the "convenient slow train."
On the 6433/34 trains, the story is even more nuanced. This public welfare slow train, covering 101 kilometers and passing through 16 tunnels and 8 bridges, has been running on the Beijing-Chengde line for 39 years. With six crew teams of four people each, the ticket price ranges from a minimum of 4 yuan to a maximum of 12.5 yuan—all to ensure affordability and comfort for the people. Precise services at Tongzhou West Station, dedicated green channels at Xinzhuangzi Station, and thoughtful organization at Xinglongxian Station... each station along the line works in tandem to safeguard the slow train, weaving a warm and convenient service chain.
'Green Hometown Sentiment': The 'Five-Chain Integration' and Health Classroom in the Carriage
The "Green Hometown Sentiment" crew group was established in 2018 and was recognized as a corporate-level excellent Party brand in 2025. Crew leader Yang Zili introduced that the team has summarized and refined the "Five-Chain Integration" work method: one purpose—serving passengers and practicing public welfare through quality; two key points—safety and assisting agriculture; three services—excellent hardware, processes, and humanistic care; four actions of sincerity—warm welcome, patient answers, careful protection, and sincere improvement; and five promotion outcomes—strengthening Party building for leadership, safety for reassurance, agricultural assistance for income growth, publicity for branding, and innovation for quality enhancement.
"Green Hometown Sentiment" extends its services beyond the carriage. Yang Zili initiated a passenger WeChat group to promptly provide the "big basket team" with train operation information and fluctuations in agricultural product prices, while also offering "reservation" assistance services—elderly, weak, sick, disabled, pregnant passengers, or those seeking medical care can notify in advance for full-process escort, station-train handover, and one-on-one support.
Notably, "Green Hometown Sentiment" brings classrooms onto the train—regularly inviting agricultural experts to explain fruit tree planting, pest control, and agricultural product preservation and sales knowledge. A reading corner is set up with agricultural technology books for free borrowing by fruit farmers. This has cumulatively covered over 1,000 villagers, helping fruit farmers in three townships along the line increase their per capita annual income by over 1,000 yuan.
In 2026, they collaborated with Chengde Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to launch the new initiative "Bringing Doctors on Board," starting the regular service project "Railway-Doctor Collaboration, Health Knowledge into Trains." Doctors answer questions on-site in the carriages, addressing common health issues such as "symptoms of cardiovascular blockage" and "precautions for taking blood pressure medication," distributing health education manuals, and creating personalized health guidance plans based on passengers' physical conditions.
"Riding this train, you can see a doctor and learn techniques—it's even more thoughtful than my own children," said an elderly frequent passenger.
One Person, One Train, Twelve Years of Guarding
On the 6433 train, Lü Tiequan is a "celebrity." At 58 years old, he has been serving on this slow train for a full 12 years. When he started working in 1987, he was a young man in his early twenties. In 2014, he transferred to the passenger service workshop to become a train attendant. Over 12 years and more than 4,000 days and nights, he has ingrained "constant worry" into his bones. Colleagues calculated that during one duty shift, he walks back and forth over 100 times across three carriages, exceeding 12,000 steps.
Over these 12 years, he has maintained a "zero violation" record, never experienced a safety responsibility accident, never received a single passenger complaint for which he was responsible, and his work standard compliance rate has consistently remained at 100%.
Chen Shuhua, a fruit farmer from Xinzhuangzi Town, will always remember the autumn of 2023. That year, her husband suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. She had to accompany him in the city, watching as over 200 jin of apples were about to rot at home. When Lü Tiequan heard about this during his duty, he immediately said, "Take care of your husband with peace of mind. I'll help you transport the apples to Chengde to sell." Over the next half month, every time he was on duty, he contacted other fruit farmers to bring her apples onto the train, helped her transport them to the market upon arrival, and even helped set up the stall and sell them after work. The over 200 jin of apples sold for nearly 2,000 yuan, and he didn't keep a single cent.
Chen Shuhua later特意 brought a basket of the largest apples to the train. Lü Tiequan smiled and pushed it back, saying, "Your husband needs money for treatment. If I accepted these apples, I'd be unworthy of this uniform."
During the 2026 Spring Festival, a photography enthusiast who often rides this train developed a candid photo of Lü Tiequan at work, framed it, and gave it to him as a New Year's gift. In the photo, Lü Tiequan is bending down to help a villager lift a basket, sweat on his forehead, with a particularly bright smile. This frame now sits on his TV cabinet at home. He says it's the most precious gift he has ever received.
In 2019, Lü Tiequan was named "Most Beautiful Chengde Railway Worker"; in 2020, he received the corporate group's Advanced Production (Work) Award; and in 2025, he was awarded the segment-level "Service Star" title. Faced with these honors, what he says most often is: "I'm just an ordinary train attendant. Doing my duty on every trip and serving every passenger well is my job."
A Bowl of Hot Soup Rice, Warming the Sunset Years
Rural elderly care is a tough challenge. But in Taqian Village, this bowl of hot soup rice costs only 3 yuan. Entering the village's comprehensive elderly care service center, the atmosphere of daily life is palpable. Breakfast for 3 yuan, lunch for 4 yuan, dinner for 3 yuan—such prices not only enable "support for the elderly" for the village's 168 residents over 60 but also safeguard "happiness on the tip of the tongue."
Where does the money come from? Wang Dalong, Party Branch Secretary of Taqian Village, Wulingshan Town, Xinglong County, Chengde City, provided the answer: not relying on "blood transfusion" but on "blood generation." "Leveraging the convenience of being close to the Beijing-Chengde Railway, we've taken our business onto the trains. Catering for tourists, serving surrounding enterprises, receiving study tour groups... multi-channel 'self-generation' has ensured the elderly care center doesn't become a burden on the village collective but rather a model for sustainable operation."
Activities like making dumplings during the Double Ninth Festival and cultural performances are the norm, making "joy in old age" more than just words on paper. Today, Taqian Village is a national demonstration village for rural governance and a national exemplary elderly-friendly community.
Rural revitalization hinges on governance. Taqian Village implements a "one overall, four packages" grid management system: village cadres divide areas, Party members manage lanes, cleaners are responsible for regions, and households take care of their front and back yards, ensuring responsibility to individuals with no blind spots. Seven village regulations cover everything from environmental hygiene and regulated dog ownership to vehicle parking and tiered water fees, leaving no detail unaddressed. More commendably, these seven rules have not incurred a single fine to date. "It relies on villagers' self-discipline, the positive guidance of 'face' culture, and the strict standards of the 'Red and White Council'," said Wang Dalong.
The village规定 that gifts for weddings and funerals should not exceed 300 yuan, and banquet tables should not exceed 500 yuan per table—this measure has directly curbed the trend of comparison and protected villagers' wallets.
The 'Ballast Stone' in Times of Crisis
On the Beijing-Chengde line, the railway not only supports the vibrancy of rural life but also steadily underpins the real economy in the mountains. Entering the seamless steel pipe production workshop of Chengde Jianlong Special Steel Co., Ltd., the low, rhythmic hum of machinery fills the air. Liu Chunbao, Party Branch Secretary of Beimaquanzi Station, pointed to the automated production line and explained to the media group that each finished steel pipe has a unique "ID," with traceability throughout the production, storage, and transportation processes.
Li Hongliang, freight duty officer at the Xinglong Business Department of Beijing Railway Logistics Center, revealed: "The entire high-end pipe production line is fully automated, requiring only six staff to monitor all processes." Chengde Jianlong Special Steel relies on railway transport for 90% of its core raw materials like coal and coke. By 2025, the average monthly unloading had reached 2,800 cars and was moving towards 3,000. Li Hongliang said, "In the past, our focus was on 'management'—managing cars, lines, and safety. Now, it's more about 'service'—thinking what the customer thinks, worrying what the customer worries about."
Online, the 95306 freight app allows enterprises to check car status and calculate运费 with one click. Offline, enterprise transport specialists are stationed at the office, providing 24/7 response year-round.
Yu Bo, Railway Transport Management Engineer at the Production Logistics Department of Chengde Jianlong Special Steel, recounted three critical moments. In 2023, issues with a new car dumper's磨合 caused car停留 on the line for up to 5 hours. The railway department held on-site meetings, optimized processes, and implemented multi-process simultaneous monitoring, compressing the time to 4 hours.
In April this year, a locomotive shortage reduced daily unloading to only 110 cars, causing a raw material crisis. The railway responded swiftly, with multiple departments coordinating to increase daily unloading to 130 cars, filling the gap.
During the "7·28"特大洪水 in 2025, the main Beijing-Chengde line was中断, threatening the enterprise with a three-month production halt. The railway department's response was decisive: "Spare no cost to ensure passage!" The调度所 coordinated overall planning, working with multiple units to devise detour plans and transport materials in不计成本. "It was precisely that 'lifeline' that kept our furnaces running without a single day's stop."
The transformation from a mere transporter to a "partner" in the industrial chain reflects the awakening of service consciousness towards the real economy. As Yu Bo stated, "The railway is our底气."
A Small Station, a 'Big Basket Team', a Road to Prosperity
On the Beijing-Chengde Railway line, there is a small fourth-class station built in 1955—Xinzhuangzi Station. It is not large, yet它承担着 the travel of residents along Xinzhuangzi Town and the外销 of agricultural products. It is not new, but through thoughtful renovations, it has made the villagers' "big baskets" easier to carry and their lives more prosperous.
Xinzhuangzi Town is a well-known fruit-producing area in Chengde, with 30,000 mu (approx. 2,000 hectares) of contiguous orchards producing apples, pears, plums, and other specialty fruits. The fruit industry is the core支柱产业 for increasing villagers' income. Every morning, many fruit farmers, carrying baskets and pushing carts, take the 6419/6420 or 6433/6434 public welfare slow trains to sell local products like apples, wild vegetables, and grains in Chengde市区. Day after day, the reputation of the "big basket team" grows.
Leveraging the convenient and low-cost travel advantage of the public welfare slow trains, local villagers can easily transport fresh forest fruits to urban areas for sale. Stable fruit sales带来可观收入—many villagers rely on this industry to support their children's education and build new houses. A railway line and a slow train are实实在在地托起 the villagers'致富梦.
The hurried loading and unloading of goods by villagers was once the station's biggest headache. Previously, trains stopped for only 2 minutes, and fruit farmers, carrying baskets weighing dozens of jin, rushed on and off不安全也不从容. Xinzhuangzi Station took notice and acted urgently. Through active coordination, the station successfully extended the stop time for the 6433 train from 2 minutes to 7 minutes—finally allowing从容顺畅 loading and unloading.
"Now there's no need to panic. We can move the baskets one by one; there's enough time," a fruit farmer who often takes the train said with a smile.
Century-Old Station and High-Speed Rail New City: A Symphony of Heritage and Innovation
Chengde Station, established in 1935, is a first-class railway hub where the Beijing-Chengde, Jin-Cheng, and Cheng-Long lines converge. Through 90 years of history, it has witnessed the changes of the Beijing-Chengde Railway and the dedication of generations of railway workers. In 2025, Chengde Station's waiting area underwent a comprehensive upgrade—thickening and insulating interior and exterior walls, renewing floors and ceilings, and replacing the lighting system with soft, high-brightness energy-saving lamps. Facilities such as the security check room, nursing room, accessible restroom, public security duty room, and 12306 service desk were also renovated.
The station established a "Barrier-Free Love Station," providing wheelchairs, crutches, and other assistive devices for free passenger use. Free charging stations were added. For the "big basket team" passengers, a dedicated agricultural product placement area was set up, and a convenient绿色通道 for exiting the station was created. This year, public welfare slow trains stopping at Chengde Station have cumulatively sent over 39,000 passengers and received over 37,000.
A dozen kilometers away, Chengde South Station presents a completely different scene. As an important intermediate hub on the Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail line, with a total construction area of nearly 15,000 square meters, it can simultaneously accommodate 1,500 waiting passengers and connects to 8 bus lines, tourist buses, and airport shuttles—everything here speaks of the power of "speed."
Data is most convincing: during its opening in 2021, it operated an average of 23 trains daily, with an annual passenger volume of only 970,000. By 2025, the daily maximum number of trains reached 161, and the annual passenger volume climbed to 3.25 million—a 235% increase in passenger flow over five years, with cumulative passengers exceeding 10 million.
Building on the "Mountain Villa Sentiment" excellent Party service brand, Chengde South Station integrates the warmth of the避暑山庄's gardens into passenger services. The "Six Hearts" work method, dedicated tourism咨询 posts, intangible cultural heritage performances, holiday public welfare interactions... "Railway + Culture and Tourism" takes root here, spreading Chengde's城市形象 further with the high-speed rail.
The Train Moves Forward, The Story Continues
On the afternoon of June 18th, the media group returned to Beijing on the G7816 train. Coinciding with the approaching Dragon Boat Festival, the Shijiazhuang Passenger Transport Section crew held a festival celebration in the carriage—making zongzi, tying五彩绳, Dragon Boat Festival知识问答... Passengers arrived at Beijing West Station amidst laughter and joy.
Three days, 50 people, from the 6419 slow train to the G7816 Fuxing号, from Taqian Village to Chengde Jianlong Special Steel. What the media group recorded was not only the铁道风光 along the Beijing-Chengde line but also the生动实践 of public welfare slow trains driving a hundred-kilometer fruit and vegetable industrial belt, and the hardcore担当 of the railway in stabilizing the "basic盘" of the real economy during crises.
A slow train, the Beijing-Chengde line, connects on one end to the daily烟火 of the people, and on the other to the钢铁脉搏 of the实体 economy in the mountains. The rolling wheels carry not only goods and people but also the hope of rural revitalization and the resilience of Chinese manufacturing. At the next stop, this train traversing the Yanshan Mountains will continue forward, heading towards more平凡而温暖的日子.
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