Why China's One-Yuan Slow Train Still Runs at a Loss

China’s fastest trains are built around speed. The 7053/4, a public-service slow train in Shandong, is built around stopping. It runs 184 kilometers between Zibo and Taishan through the mountains, calls at 17 stations, and charges as little as 1 yuan; a full-route ticket is 11.5 yuan. It takes several hours to make a trip that a high-speed line would compress into a much shorter ride.

That low-price model is not a profitable one. A current investigation cited railway cost estimates putting the train’s direct annual loss at more than 4 million yuan, with indirect costs pushing the figure above 7 million. Electricity, staff, rolling stock, and track maintenance continue even when the fare barely moves. The train’s price has stayed unchanged for decades.

Yet the passengers are not simply nostalgic rail fans. At the small stations, people carry shopping carts, baskets, school bags, and hiking poles. The service connects dozens of mountain villages to larger towns, giving older residents and students a cheap way to travel while helping farm goods move outward and visitors move in. The train is transportation, but it also acts as a market route and a rural lifeline.

The 7053/4 is a useful reminder that public transport can be judged by access as well as revenue. China still has dozens of similar public-service slow-train pairs serving remote communities. Their value is measured in markets kept open, daily trips made possible, and villages that remain connected. In a country famous for bullet trains, the slowest carriages can still answer a very modern question: who gets to move when speed is too expensive?