Society

Stranded rail passengers finally home

By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-20 08:04

Officials deliver food and water to travellers delayed by rain

CHENGDU - Zhang Yun was so excited he kept saying "Home, sweet home" loudly to a train attendant when Train K114 reached Chengdu Railway Station North in Southwest China's Sichuan province at 4:52 am on Sunday.

The timid young Sichuan native said: "It normally takes 19 hours and 20 minutes to reach Chengdu from Kunming on Train K114. But this time it took us more than 66 hours because landslides had disrupted the line."

Related readings:  5,000 stranded as landslides disrupt train

K114 was the last of four trains to reach their destinations after rain-triggered landslides buried parts of a railway line in Southwest China on Thursday.

On the evening of June 16, a rainstorm hit the Baiguo-Puxiong section of the Chengdu-Kunming railway line in Yuexi county of the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, causing landslides and stranding nearly 5,000 passengers on four trains.

Some 2,000 workers with 10 excavators rushed to the scene to clear the rail line linking Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, and Kunming, capital of neighboring Yunnan province.

Chengdu's railway bureau, which oversees the line, started an emergency response mechanism to ensure adequate food, water and medical care for the trapped passengers, said Liu Shuguo, a leading bureau official.

Some 40 railway employees from stations near where the four trains were stranded walked 7 km twice to bring passengers bottled water, instant noodles, bread, biscuits, vegetables and meat. Governments at different levels in Yuexi also sent mineral water, instant noodles, rice, fresh vegetables and diesel oil to the trains, said Fan Qinghong, deputy chief of the Tiexi Railway Station in Yuexi.

After Train K114 was stranded for eight hours at the Tiexi station, most passengers became restless. Attendants as well as railway employees from the station tried their best to comfort them, offering each passenger free food and bottled water, according to Zhang.

Liu said his bureau offered free food and bottled water to all passengers on the four trains for each meal.

Although three of the four stranded trains - Beijing-Panzhihua, Chengdu-Panzhihua and Chengdu-Kunming - reached their destinations early on Saturday, Train K114, which had been stranded at the Labai Railway Station in Yuexi for 21 hours, took a roundabout route through Labai, Xichang, Panzhihua in Sichuan, Kunming, Liupanshui in Guizhou province, and Neijiang in Sichuan to reach Chengdu early the next morning.

Not a single passenger from Train K114 was injured or filed a complaint.

When Zhang Yincong, a Yi passenger, had a fainting attack, the conductor found a doctor to treat him, Liu said.

As of press time on Sunday, some 1,600 workers with 22 excavators were working along the Baiguo-Baishiyan section of the Chengdu-Kunming railway line in Yuexi, trying to restore the flood-damaged roadbed.

Xia Yongjing contributed to the story.