Old train station turned into cultural block

A cultural block that is a result of a renovation of an old train station recently opened in Luohu District, featuring a train museum, a cinema, a park, and a commercial street.

The train station, known as Gong Ye Zhan or Industry Station, used to serve as a stop for three express trains operated specifically for transporting food supplies from the mainland to Hong Kong. Trains 751, 753, and 755 were first put into service March 20, 1962, to address insufficient supplies of non-staple foods in Hong Kong.

Every day, the trains departed from Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Shanghai, or Changsha, carrying livestock to be transported to Hong Kong, and stopped near Hexihuan Road to the north of Sungang Bridge for the animals to be inspected.

The station was once known as “the world’s largest station for live hog exports,” as all livestock sent from the mainland to Hong Kong received final inspections there. After inspections, the trains were rearranged with their carriages linked to diesel locomotives and traveled along the Kowloon-Canton Railway to a slaughterhouse in Kowloon.

With advancements in logistics and transportation, more ways to transport livestock and other fresh food became available, and the demand for railway cargo transportation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong consequently decreased. In 2010, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cargo trains, including the three express trains, ceased operation.

More information about the three express trains can be found at the block’s Three Express Trains Museum. But if you’re looking for more firsthand experience of its history, it is highly recommended to visit the Three Express Train Immersive Railway Movie Theater that crafts an immersive experience through holograms. Visitors can also enjoy an exciting ride on a rail motor car that goes through an automatic cabin door and reaches the surround-screen theater.

At the renovated station, a dark green locomotive is also highly popular among young people. Produced in 1967, it is the oldest existing locomotive in Shenzhen and used to be a major switch engine at the station. The green cars connected to it were collected from across China.

The nearest Metro station to Gong Ye Zhan is Line 3’s Caopu Station.

A Fuxing high-speed bullet train runs past an old green train displayed at the Gong Ye Zhan cultural block in Luohu District, creating a convergence of the past and present. Photos by Lin Songtao

An old locomotive, accompanied by green train cars, sits on the rails.

Visitors relax at the resorted vintage train station in Gong Ye Zhan.

A student boards a repurposed old train, now transformed into a restaurant.

A road sign designed like an old railway signal light adds a touch of nostalgia to the area.

Children play with pig sculptures outside an old train car, restored to showcase a historic scene of livestock transportation.

A woman strolls inside an old train car, now serving as a restaurant.