This Day, That Year

Item from Feb 2, 1993, in China Daily: A railway worker brings hot water to appreciative passengers who reach out from windows of an overcrowded train at the Hefei Railway Station in Anhui province. The passengers, who were on their way back to their workplaces from family reunions during Spring Festival, had to travel in overloaded trains in which little drinking water was available.

In the past, passengers would not be able to get to hot water boilers or have it distributed to them in the packed trains, especially during the Spring Festival travel rush. But improving amenities and equipment mean passengers can now enjoy the comforts of travel on the country's expanding network of high-speed trains, such as the above carriage on the rail link between Beijing and Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu.