“Clang, clang”, goes the level crossing on Chenguang Lu as foot and vehicular traffic give way to an average of 90 enormous freight trains each day. They have just departed, will shortly arrive at, or completely ignore, Nanjing Zhonghua Men Railway Station.
But not for much longer. For this section of the Nanjing–Tongling Railway is soon to be moved. Local people are both looking forward to it and a little reluctant. After all, this railway line has been a core element of life among several generations of Nanjing people for almost a century; those trains’ sharp and piercing whistles in the middle of the night rousing many from their dreams.
Nanjing Zhonghua Men Railway Station was built in 1935 and during its heyday saw more than 10,000 passengers every day as one of the three major stations in Nanjing, along with Nanjing West Station and Pukou Station. While the former sent trains to Shanghai and the latter to Tianjin, the focus for Zhonghua Men was the south. Renamed during this time in an attempt at continuity, the station became Nanjing South in March, 1998, with Pukou becoming Nanjing North.
Taking a train to or from Zhonghua Men to southern Anhui and Huang Shan is not only an experience shared by countless old Nanjingers, but also a collective memory of people across both Jiangsu and Anhui.
And from further afield too. Deng Xiaoping himself once boarded a train at Zhonghua Men, to make an inspection tour of Ma’an Shan, Wuhu and Huang Shan.
The beginning of the end came in 2011, with the opening of the grand Nanjing South Railway Station. Zhonghua Men Station immediately got its old name back, while passenger services came to an end 3 years later with the K1325 train from Suzhou to Nanchang being the final train to make a stop at Zhonghua Men, on 14 October, 2014. The Station’s swansong comprised fewer than just 300 passengers boarding or alighting trains each day.
But those long freight trains are still a common sight. Bulk materials such as iron ore, coal and steel are transported on this line all year round, essential for the operations of Ma Steel, Meishan Steel and other enterprises to the southwest of Nanjing.
As to the future, we can expect another of those historical and cultural spaces that have become the “à la mode” way for China to preserve its past.
But one emotive question remains in the minds of many Nanjingers; should the actual railway tracks be ripped up? At a 2023 planning meeting on the subject, Chen Yanping, Director of the Municipal Affairs Department of the Municipal Planning Bureau said, “Our suggestion is to try not to demolish them if possible”.
