Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks – Part 3: Rails (2003)

Directed by: Bing Wang | 135 minutes | documentary

‘Rails’ is the third part in the nine-hour documentary ‘Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks’ about the enormous industrial area in the northeast of China. After a very prosperous period, the industry here has collapsed enormously in the last ten years. In the other parts, director Bing Wang followed the workers in factories and working-class neighborhoods, and in this last part the train that crosses the district. The freight railway in Tie Xi district was built in 1934 to support factories in the industrial area. Over the years, the railway has been modified several times. It is currently divided into two separate railway networks, for the supply of raw materials and the removal of finished products. The track is more than 20 kilometers long and runs through the shunting yard in southern Shenyang and is connected to China’s national freight train railway.

In this part of the documentary, Bing Wang pays particular attention to the railway, the railway employees, but also to people who live along the railway and how they provide for themselves. Life as a railway officer and conductor seems to consist mainly of playing card games and talking about women, a monologue about the exchange of partners lasts more than 10 minutes. The motivation to work doesn’t seem very great, but what do you want when you get a wage that you can’t really get by. One of the few things railway workers can enjoy is smoking a cigarette, so a new one is lit every second. A recurring image in this documentary, because smoking is also one of the most important activities and relaxation in the parts ‘Rest’ and ‘Remnants’. For the first time in the documentary, there is real displayed emotion. Du Yang lives with his father Du Lao in a railway warehouse. Lao Du collects coal, which is transported by the trains, and then resells it until he is arrested by the police. For Du Yang, his father is the most important person in his otherwise monotonous and miserable life, so he breaks down when his father ends up in prison. Despondency radiates from his face and tears run down his cheeks as he looks at old family photos. When his father is released, Du Yang can no longer control his emotions. This results in a very painful and dramatic scene. This strong scene once again shows the qualities of Bing Wang, he takes the railway as his starting point but focuses on the relationship between father and son. This is exactly what the director wants to achieve, a documentary about a declining industrial area through people, relationships and the problems they struggle with.

‘Rails’ is a more than impressive end of ‘Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks’ where the railway forms a bridge between the factories and workers. Let yourself be carried away by the train and realize that a nine-hour ride does not have to be boring or tedious.