Through the ravines of the Loess Plateau in north-central China runs a major energy artery, flowing day and night. This is CHN Energy Shenshuo Railway, a key west-to-east coal transport corridor linking the major coal-producing regions of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia in northern China with consumer markets in eastern China. Extending from deep within the plateau, the railway runs eastward and connects with the Shuohuang Railway, carrying coal to the eastern coast.
During the National Day holiday, as city lights glitter and tourist attractions fill with crowds, the railway maintains its steady rhythm: loading, shunting, departure and arrival, one train after another, night after night. There are no throngs of tourists here, only endless lines of steel rolling through the night.
At 4 a.m. on October 1, the operations building at Zhugaita Station, deep in the Loess Plateau, was brightly lit. Outside, the night was dark; inside, computer screens glowed like daylight. Signal operator Ding Hong had already been on duty at the control panel for eight consecutive hours. Her eyes were fixed on the screen, where countless illuminated lines intertwined to form a complex network. Each line represented a train, and each point of light marked a route set for its movement. Suddenly, an instruction came over the radio: “Train 18826 approaching. Receive on Track 12.”
Ding Hong watches the screen closely to verify route signals with precision.
“Train 18826 approaching. Receive on Track 12. Signal operator acknowledges,” she repeated before pressing the button. On the screen, a white illuminated line extended from outside the station into the yard, aligning precisely with the designated track. Before the train even entered the station, its route had already been set. Within the confines of the screen, a silent relay was underway.
Zhugaita Station is the largest single-yard, parallel-track marshalling yard in China for assembling 10,000-ton trains. It is also the core freight marshalling hub of the Shenshuo Railway. Its numerous tracks stretch across the yard, while hundreds of sets of points operate in precise coordination. Here, heavy-haul trains carrying 10,000 tons of freight are broken up, reassembled and dispatched, crossing mountains and rivers on their journeys to destinations across the country.
Zhugaita Station, China's largest single-yard, parallel-track marshalling yard for 10,000-ton trains
Ding Hong rarely gets the chance to admire the scene. Her world lies within the confines of the screen. Every action a signal operator takes is directly linked to safety. “Every extra measure of care I take gives us greater confidence in ensuring energy supplies,” she said.
Outside, the night remained dark. Another 10,000-ton train rolled into the yard, its lights cutting through the darkness. The glow came from afar, passed through the ravines of the Loess Plateau and joined the mighty stream of efforts to ensure the nation's energy supply.
Train marshalling operations at Zhugaita Station under the night sky
Put simply, a signal operator is the person who “clears the way” for trains. From entry to departure, the track a train takes, when it changes direction and where it stops are all determined in advance by the signal operator on the screen. Setting a route incorrectly could cause a train to enter the wrong track in a minor case, or disrupt operations across the entire line in a more serious one. Ding Hong has worked in the role for 13 years and has set countless routes, yet before pressing a button, she still instinctively takes another look and checks everything once more. “Of course, there's some nervousness, but after doing this for so long, you know what you're doing,” she said calmly, as if describing the most ordinary part of her day.
Over those 13 years, Zhugaita Station has grown from a small station into the largest single-yard, parallel-track marshalling yard in China for 10,000-ton trains. Ding Hong, too, has grown from a young woman in her early twenties into one of the station's most experienced signal operators.
The romance of the National Day holiday lies not only in mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, but also in the direction of rails stretching into the distance, the moment a signal light turns green, and the thunderous sound of a 10,000-ton train arriving safely. Behind that rumble are countless signal operators like Ding Hong, sitting before their screens and sending trains, one after another, toward distant destinations.
