As midnight settles over the mountains in north Vietnam's Bac Giang Province, a green train adorned with the Chinese national emblem rumbles to life, steadily heading toward the Chinese border.
Spanning nearly 400 km from Hanoi, capital city of Vietnam, to Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the 12-hour trip has 4 stops, including Bac Giang.
After a five-year suspension, China-Vietnam international passenger rail service resumed with a train leaving Nanning for Hanoi on Sunday and returning from Hanoi on the next day. Previously, passengers could only travel between the two countries via a bumpy flight or lengthy coach journeys.
The Nanning-Hanoi international train runs daily, leaving Nanning at 6:05 p.m. and arriving in Hanoi at 6:30 a.m. the next day. The return train departs from Hanoi at 10:20 p.m. and arrives in Nanning at 10:06 a.m. the following day.
Passengers are sanguine about the development of the route, which is expected to enhance economic and people-to-people relations between Vietnam and the world's second-largest economy.
For Pham Thi Thu Huyen, who often travels between Hanoi and Nanning to visit relatives, the resumption of China-Vietnam passenger train is such a relief to her.
"I get very dizzy when I travel by car or plane, but sitting here, I don't feel dizzy at all," Huyen told Xinhua in the carriage that she would probably also go by train next time, instead of any other kind of transportation.
Echoing a similar notion, Giorgio, an Italian passenger in talks with Xinhua, expressed his admiration for the train. "This train is very wonderful. And it's really clean and nice. I like it so much. It's comfortable."
Beyond the comfort, Nguyen Chinh Nam, deputy general director of Vietnam Railways Corporation, called the resumption "a day worth celebrating."
"We fully believe that this train can well meet the needs of the people of the two countries," Nam said while emphasizing his belief that the Vietnam-China international passenger train is a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
As this year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Vietnam diplomatic ties and is also designated the China-Vietnam Year of People-to-People Exchanges, a series of activities have been organized and planned to further cement the public support of bilateral relations.
"I hope that there will be more trains, so that the people of China and Vietnam can exchange what they have, have more contacts, more integration, and more understanding," said Tang Piao, a Chinese passenger.