Life at ＂Cloud Station＂: Generations Guarding the Qingshiya Railway Station

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 7, 2020 shows a freight train passing the Qingshiya Railway Station on the top of Qinling Mountains in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. 

Qingshiya Railway Station is at the peak of Qinling Mountains on China's first electrified railway, Baoji - Chengdu railway. Surrounded by sheer cliffs, the "cloud station" consists of only two tracks and serves as a stop for passing trains on the railway.

The assistant officer on duty Zhao Shuai welcomes the train at Qingshiya Railway Station in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Small as it is, the station has all the vital organs. To guarantee the operation of the railway station, station staff members are working on 24/7 coverage. Staff on duty have to stay at the station for the whole five days and six nights. Even the commuting itself is not easy. Facing the arduous terrain, they have to walk for almost an hour passing through rugged mountains to take the bus home.

Deputy station manager Ma Chi (R) is on the mountain road back to the Qingshiya Railway Station with a colleague on the top of Qinling Mountains in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Qingshiya Railway Station staff members extract water on the top of Qinling Mountains in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Although the condition is challenging, the young staff team makes excellent work performance and lives a colorful life at the top of Qinling Mountains. Currently, the 10-person team consists of nine post-90s officers with the manager born after 1985. Together with their colleagues who used to work here, they constructed small gardens, flattened basketball courts, installed fitness equipment, and even built the memorial hall recording the history and spirit of the Qingshiya Station over decades.

The assistant officer on duty Zhao Shuai (R) confirms the route of a train while eating at Qingshiya Railway Station in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Staff members take railway simulation exercise in their leisure time at Qingshiya Railway Station on the top of Qinling Mountains in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020.