Train driver witnesses rapid development of rail network

A train driver in eastern China's Fujian province hopes one day to run a service to his father's hometown in Taiwan's Hualien.

He Zhigang, 54, has worked on trains for more than three decades. Born and raised in Fujian, he became an operator in 1989 after graduating from a railway technical school in Fuzhou, the provincial capital.

"My father used to talk a lot about his hometown in Hualien on the east coast of Taiwan," he said, especially the city's many fruits, including big pineapples and thick sugar cane.

His father left the island and moved to Fujian in 1944 at age 17, and for decades he was unable to return. When in 1992, the mainland and Taiwan agreed upon the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the One-China principle, he was finally able to go home to Hualien after 48 years to reconnect with family. Aged 65 at the time, it was also the only time he managed to visit his hometown again.

"My father's regret was not being able to fulfill his duty to take care of my grandparents. By the time he returned to Hualien, they had passed away," He said, adding that fortunately, his father had been able to find his sister and reconnect with the rest of the family.

Between 1992 and 1997, his father wrote home every month.

"My father often wrote letters to Taiwan at night and mailed them the next day. He was strong and probably didn't want us to see his tears for his family," He said.

Unfortunately, after an earthquake in 1997, they once again lost contact with family members in Taiwan.

"I will travel to Hualien again after retirement to reconnect with my family," He recalled his father saying shortly before he died. They were some of his last words.

During his first visit to the island as part of a group tour in 2005, He noted that Taiwan's railway and transportation networks were more advanced than the mainland's at the time.

But he has since seen the mainland's network develop rapidly. The first high-speed railway opened in 2008, connecting Beijing and Tianjin, and the first high-speed railway in Fujian opened the following year.

"All cities in Fujian now have access to high-speed rail, which makes travel faster and more convenient," he said, adding that a new high-speed railway with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour is expected to open soon, which will make travel even easier.

The new line, connecting Fuzhou and Xiamen, is the second high-speed railway linking the province's two main cities and is expected to open next year.

He has held different posts in the railway, including driving steam locomotives, freight and passenger trains and organizing compartments. Now, he is responsible for overseeing cargo trains, including the international freight services between China and Europe.

"Even though I no longer take passengers, transporting goods is as important a job. There are goods to be exported overseas and also anti-pandemic materials," He said.

The opening of a line in 2020 between Fuzhou and Pingtan, an island county in Fujian, was thrilling news, as it seemed to bring He's dream a little closer.

Pingtan, which is 126 kilometers from Hsinchu in Taiwan, is the largest island in Fujian, and is also the closest spot on the mainland to the main island of Taiwan.

According to the national medium and long-term railway network plan released in 2016, Taiwan will eventually be linked to the mainland's high-speed railway network.

Last year, a transport network plan was jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The construction of a branch line from Fuzhou to Taipei has been laid out in the guideline, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman with the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference in November.

Fujian has completed preliminary technical plans for bridges connecting the coastal area of Fujian with Taiwan's Jinmen and Matsu islands, she said.

The Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge, connecting the mainland with Pingtan, has already opened to traffic, linking it to the national railway network, she added.

He Zhigang is eager to see the day he can reconnect with family again. "There are quite a few families like us on the mainland. We experienced the difficulties of being apart, and we very much want a peaceful cross-Straits relationship," he said.