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Passengers may gripe that Chinese railway staff members can be less than friendly, but providing service with a smile can be a little difficult when some riders are literally pigs.

While urban cities in China continue to rapidly modernize, the pace of change is much slower in rural areas. Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, for instance, where only a single train on the Chengdu-Kunming Railway connects farmers in mountainous areas with other areas where they sell their wares.

Despite efforts being made to expand China’s railway service and fund rail technology, and the fact that the nation now has the largest railway system in the world due to its size, at one point in time trains were shunned as a means of travel for the lower classes. This led to a long period of underdevelopment until it was deemed necessary years later to help solve domestic transportation problems.

Although a number of lines might not provide top-notch service, the fact that they’re even running to begin with is an accomplishment in itself, especially when you consider that these trains service not only farmers, but their livestock as well.

I mean it’s challenging enough to provide regular passengers with a pleasant ride, but what about when you’ve also got pigs hogging the aisle?

▼ Rural areas like Liangshan have only transportation by train or air to rely on, and we all know pigs don’t fly.
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▼ We imagine it must be even worse having to clean up the mess left behind.trainpigs3

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How long do you think you’d last in your line of work if half of your customers were literally pigging it? For better or worse, it’s all in a day’s work for those conductors stuck operating railway stretches like these, or other rural lines that allow animals, like the Shixi Railway.

That said, it seems kind of odd that people can board the train with livestock, but according to railway transportation rules luggage or bags over 20 kilograms (22 pounds) are prohibited…

Source: Weibo via ToychanNET
Images: Weibo