Slow Trains in China
Shen Bohan, Xinhua, China
As modern high-speed trains shoot past new stations throughout China, a pair of slow-speed trains still run through Daliang Mountains.
The 5633/5634 trains run between Puxiong and Panzhihua of Sichuan Province with an average speed less than 40 km per hour. The journey with 26 stations in between takes eleven hours and four minutes, with the ticket prices ranging from 2 yuan to 25.5 yuan(about 0.3-3.9 U.S. dollars).
The slow-speed trains send children to their schools, sick people to healthcare, and the locals to the world outside of the mountains.