The disappearing Spring Festival "motorcycle army": high-speed rail changed their way home
At 13:08 on January 21, the D3614 train from Guangzhou South, Guangdong to Baise, Guangxi, carrying 613 migrant workers and passengers, started from Guangzhou South Railway Station and drove all the way to Guangxi.
Many of these Guangxi tourists were members of the "motorcycle army" in previous years.
According to the introduction of Guangzhou Railway Group, on January 21 and 22, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will also open 7 high-speed trains to Guangxi, allowing more "motorcycle army" personnel to bid farewell to the motorcycle journey and take the high-speed train to return safely and quickly. Township.
Peng Mei News (www.thepaper.cn) noticed that the people who returned home on motorcycles during the Spring Festival holiday a decade ago, also known as the "Motorcycle Army", used to be a special landscape during the Spring Festival holiday, and the number of them exceeded one million at the peak.
Motorcycle parts are prone to failure, easy to get tired of riding, unfamiliar long-distance driving, unfamiliar road conditions, and the cold weather makes the body easy to feel uncomfortable, which leads to the frequent occurrence of safety accidents in the "motorcycle army", which is worrying.
In recent years, with the development of high-speed rail, the increase of private cars, and the change of travel mode, the number of "motorcycle army" has gradually decreased.
The reporter recently found on the roads that the "motorcycle army" had to pass through in previous years, such as Foshan, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, that the long motorcycle fleet in the early years has disappeared, and the traffic accidents caused by motorcycles have also decreased a lot.
In 2017, The Paper used live footage to record the arduous journey of Long Fei, a post-80s young man who rode thousands of miles back to his hometown. Since the Spring Festival last year, Long Fei no longer needs to ride a motorcycle to his hometown because he bought a car. .
"This crowd has really become very few, and this is the great progress of the society." A field staff member who participated in the charity activities sighed.
"Motorcycle army" once exceeded 1 million people
The "motorcycle army", which was once a unique landscape of the Spring Festival, is decreasing in size year by year, from "big army" to "skirmisher".
According to a report by the Workers Daily on January 21, 2022, "this year, there are fewer people returning home by motorcycle than in previous years." During the Spring Festival, the motorcycle traffic flow from Guangdong to Guangxi via East Exit 321 of Wuzhou City, Guangxi appeared sparse. Talking about the "motorcycle army" that swarmed in the past, Wuzhou Dulian gas station on the edge of National Highway 321, Che Huanbin, said with emotion, "There used to be motorcycles in the Spring Festival gas station, but now this picture has disappeared for several years."
The Paper noticed that in recent years, the Spring Festival travel reports have gradually reduced the content of the "motorcycle army" every year.
"Motorcycle Army" can be traced back to the Spring Festival in 2000, and its birth has a special background.
In the early 1980s, with the rapid economic development of the coastal areas of Guangdong, tens of millions of migrant workers went to the Pearl River Delta to work, which repeatedly pushed up the number of people sent during the Spring Festival and increased the pressure on railway transportation.
But to this day, the railway's role as the main force for medium and long-distance travel in the Spring Festival has not been shaken.
In the Spring Festival travel era without high-speed rail, the railway capacity from the Pearl River Delta to the southwestern region including Guangxi has been very tight.
Before the opening of the Nanguang and Guizhou-Guangzhou high-speed railways, the Guangdong-Guangzhou area was only connected by the Guangmao railway, and the line was a mixed passenger and freight line, and the passenger capacity was extremely limited.
Although the railway department has tried its best to increase the number of temporary trains, there is still a large gap between the capacity and the actual demand, and there is even a dilemma of "hard to get a ticket".
Around 2000, train tickets were still "hard to come by", and many migrant workers bought motorcycles. With the help of the newly emerging online chat tool, many migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta began to form groups of three or five to return to Guangxi by motorcycle. , Hunan New Year, and even as far away as Guizhou, Yunnan, Chongqing and other places, eventually merged into a mighty "motorcycle army".
During the Spring Festival in 2008, the "Motorcycle Army" attracted the attention of the whole society and the media. Local governments along the route set up rest points and temporary gas stations along the national highways where the "Motorcycle Army" passed, and provided free catering services.
During the Spring Festival in 2012, the "motorcycle army" has become quite large. Zhaoqing City, the only place to return to Guangxi, has increased from more than 500 vehicles per day at the beginning of the Spring Festival to more than 10,000 vehicles at the peak.
That year, the "motorcycle army" totaled more than 300,000 people.
In order to ensure the safety of the "motorcycle army", the local party committee and government even used police cars to clear the way for them.
By the Spring Festival in 2014, the flow of motorcycles returning home continued to grow significantly, and the "motorcycle army" once approached 600,000.
Zhaoqing and other places arrange more than 1,000 staff members every day to provide them with voluntary services such as guidance, assistance, and catering.
According to public reports, according to the statistics of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation, the number of "motorcycle troops" returning to various provinces and regions during peak hours exceeds 1 million, which has become a unique picture of the Spring Festival in southern my country.
High-speed rail opened, "motorcycle army" dropped sharply
Guangxi has always been a major labor exporting province, with 7 million migrant workers going to Guangdong every year.
Cycling back to Guangxi from the Pearl River Delta, most of them can be reached in one day.
Therefore, in the "motorcycle army", there are the most migrant workers from Guangxi.
At the end of 2014, after the opening of Gui-Guangzhou and Nan-Guang high-speed railways, the travel time between Guangzhou and Guilin was reduced to 3 hours, which was more than 8 hours shorter than that before the opening; the travel time between Guangzhou and Nanning was reduced to 4 hours, which was 10 hours shorter than that before the opening. above.
The opening of these two high-speed railways not only gives Gui migrant workers an option to go home.
Data show that during the Spring Festival travel period, the Guiguang-Guangzhou and Nanguang high-speed railways could transport 30,000 people a day.
There are safer and faster high-speed rail rides, and the "motorcycle army" dropped sharply by 200,000 people.
Data from the Guangxi Wuzhou Transportation Department shows that in 2014, there were 250,000 "motorcycle armies" at the most during the Spring Festival. Years of "motorcycle army" is gradually disappearing.
From 2016 to 2018, The Paper broadcasted the return of the "Motorcycle Army" live for three consecutive years.
The reporter found that the "motorcycle army" is decreasing year by year, and many of those who still insist on returning home by motorcycle are out of the hobby of motorcycle riding.
On the other hand, although returning home by motorcycle is more convenient, it also brings many hidden dangers.
According to statistics, in the 20 days before the Spring Festival in 2014, there were more than 30 traffic jams caused by the "motorcycle army" every day, and more than 50 traffic accidents occurred in one day at most.
Every year when Spring Festival arrives, the traffic control departments and all walks of life in the cities along the Guangdong and Guangxi lines are very worried and highly nervous.
Xie Yi, a professor at the Party School of Shenzhen Municipal Committee, believes that there are many safety hazards in the "motorcycle army".
First of all, according to the design requirements of motorcycle production, the body parts are not suitable for long-distance driving, and long-distance driving is prone to failures and traffic accidents.
Secondly, long-term cycling makes the hands and feet stiff, prone to visual fatigue, resulting in a weakened ability to adapt.
Thirdly, most people ride bicycles for long distances temporarily, driving unfamiliar and unfamiliar road conditions, which are prone to emergencies.
In addition, the cold weather near the Spring Festival can easily make the body uncomfortable and lead to safety accidents.
With the opening of the Nanguang and Guizhou-Guangzhou high-speed railways, starting from the Spring Festival in 2015, the railway department, in conjunction with the party committees and governments of Guangdong and Guangxi, mainstream media and caring enterprises, launched a "motorcycle army" high-speed train to return home to escort them home safely.
During the Spring Festival in 2016, a "motorcycle" freight train was also launched simultaneously, allowing them to go home before the festival, rework after the festival and still have motorcycles available.
During the Spring Festival in 2022, for the eighth consecutive year, the railway department will join local governments, mainstream media and caring enterprises to organize 8 special high-speed trains for the "Warm Sun in Winter", and strive to make contributions to reducing the size of the "motorcycle army".
Guangzhou Railway Group said that from 2015 to 2022, during the eight-year Spring Festival travel period, Guangzhou Railway Group and Nanning Bureau jointly launched a special train for migrant workers to return home every year with government departments and corporate media. On the high-speed rail network, the transportation capacity of the Spring Festival has been greatly improved, and the speed of the Spring Festival has been further accelerated; In this way, everyone is guided to take the high-speed rail to return home safely, instead of riding a motorcycle home.
The protagonist of Pengpai's live broadcast of returning home has bought a car
On the one hand, thanks to the development of high-speed rail, which has increased transportation capacity, everyone can go home faster and safer; on the other hand, with the rapid economic and social development, many migrant workers have accumulated a certain amount of wealth and can choose to drive a car Even flew home.
"I feel proud to see the city getting more and more beautiful, because I am also one of the builders." Huang Aiguo is a native of Baise, Guangxi. He has worked in Foshan, Guangdong for 30 years. 4,000 yuan. Now that I am old, I am a material guard, and my salary is only 2,000 yuan.
Huang Aiguo said that if he did not go out to work, he would have no money. He had three children to start a family, and elderly parents to support him. The financial pressure was great.
In the past, he bought an old motorcycle just for the convenience of going home, and he would ride it home every Spring Festival.
And this year, he took the free high-speed train home.
Wang Huizhen, who worked in Guangzhou, was once a member of the "motorcycle army".
He calculated an account: take a car back to his hometown in Binyang, Guangxi, the fare is more than 200 yuan, and it takes 10 hours to get home; ride a motorcycle to go home by himself, the cost is only half of the car, but it takes 15 hours to get home, which is very hard , it is not safe; the fare from Guangzhou to Nanning by high-speed rail is 169 yuan, and you can get home in 4 hours.
After comparison, he now chooses to take the high-speed train home.
Zhou Guangrong, who works in an electronics factory in Shenzhen, is a veteran. He has been riding a motorcycle home for many years. This year, he chose to go home by high-speed rail, feeling that it is safe and comfortable to take the high-speed rail.
Zhou Guangrong said, "In the past, there were more than 10 fellows working in a factory in Guilin, Guangxi, and they basically rode their bikes home. Now everyone has a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan, and the family is gradually getting richer, or Carpooling or taking the high-speed train home. This year, my fellow villagers have advised me not to ride a bike home, the road is very unsafe.”
Born in the 1980s, Long Fei is a native of Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. He is also a cycling enthusiast. He often rides his hometown to celebrate the Spring Festival.
In 2017, Long Fei once brought his wife and daughter back to his hometown in two days.
The Paper used live footage to record Long Fei's arduous ride back home.
During the Spring Festival in 2021, Long Fei no longer needs to ride a motorcycle back to his hometown because he bought a car.
At about 15:00 on January 18, 2022, next to a gas station at a high-speed intersection in Foshan, several people returning home on motorcycles chatted while waiting for free refueling.
This is a silhouette of the "Love Home with Love" public welfare activities carried out for many years in a row.
The on-site staff said that all walks of life are paying more and more attention to the "motorcycle army". In the past, there were hundreds of motorcycles waiting in a "long queue" for refueling, but now there are only scattered vehicles refueling. If there is less, this is the great progress of society.”
According to the Guangzhou Railway Group, 46.5 million passengers are expected to be transported during the Spring Festival in 2022, an increase of 16 million compared with the 2012 Spring Festival.
This year, the transportation capacity of Guangzhou Railway, especially the high-speed railway, has reached its peak over the years, and will account for more than 70% of the total transportation capacity.
Among them, the capacity of the Nanguang and Guiguang high-speed railways has reached a record high, with a daily capacity of more than 90,000 people.
"On the premise of normalizing the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the responsibility of the railway is to transport more passengers safely at the fastest speed. With the continuous improvement of the high-speed rail network, more and more passengers take the high-speed rail, and passengers return to Home roads become faster, more comfortable and safer." said Peng Xiang, chief engineer of Guangzhou Railway Group Passenger Transport Department.
Reporter Chen Xuhou Correspondent Zeng Yong