The Beiying station in Shanxi's provincial capital Taiyuan was pulled down to give way to an elevated road leading to the newly built south high-speed railway station that started operation in August.

For Zhu Jie, 50, who had worked at the station for more than three decades, and many other residents whose lives were closely related to the old building, the former station remains firmly in their memories.

The station, established in 1933, was a major transportation hub for south Taiyuan in 1981 when Zhu started his work there.

Zhu says the station was at its peak in the 1980s, when more than 200 people worked at the station. Annual revenue reached 700 million yuan ($113 million).

"The station did not change much over the past 30 years," Zhu says.

There are quite a few schools and colleges near the station, and it is the place where students used to gather for transportation.

The station stopped passenger service in July 2012 and only provided a ticket-selling service for local people, until July this year when it closed completely.

Zhu and 40 of his colleagues now work at Yuci station since August, about 30 kilometers from Beiying station.

Over the past months, especially after the local newspaper revealed the station would be closed by August, many Taiyuan residents have come to take photos of the station that holds decades of memories for them.

Sometimes Zhu goes back to the old station where, to his happy surprise, he often bumps into some old acquaintances who also happen to be visiting at the same time. "I was delighted to see the place is still so well remembered by many people in this high-speed train era," he says.

Nostalgic as he is, Zhu is also excited about his new job at the station's operational workshop, which is responsible for receiving and dispatching trains.

"My father was among the first batch of railway workers since 1949, and he graduated from the Northern Institute of Railway Engineering, which is now the Northern Jiaotong University," he says. "My working life is also mainly about railway engineering. But I'm not at all a seasoned hand when it comes to the new system. I have quite a lot of new knowledge to learn."

Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan

contributed to the story.

zhangyue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 10/22/2013 page9)