Video: On trains carrying the joy of reunion.

Tet trains always have many strange things, both passengers and train crew are confused.

In a 12-month year, there are 8 months of low train ticket season. During that time, trains mostly run empty, without passengers, even though ticket prices are reduced by up to 50%. At those times, few people mention how happy or sad the train staff are.

Tet is the peak season for serving customers. They are the last ones to return home and welcome spring the latest. Their joys and sorrows, their losses, they can only hold back their sighs, taking the joy of bringing Tet to many places as motivation to continue "staying on the rails".

The story of "not being able to fulfill one's duty while doing one's job" is always a concern for railway workers.

Reunion and family reunion during the Lunar New Year is the wish of every family. However, railway workers welcome the New Year in a place where there are only colleagues. They find happiness in bringing joy to millions of families.

Since starting their careers 11 years ago, Le Thanh Van (38 years old) and his wife Tran Thi Nhung (33 years old) have never been home on the 30th and 1st of Tet. Van is the captain of the AE3/4 passenger train running the North-South route, Nhung works in the flight attendant team. The couple work on two different trains, so when he has a day off, she gets on the train, so everyone at work calls them "the sun and the moon couple".

“ What can we do? Because of our children, my husband and I have to take different trains to have time to take care of them. But that “division of labor” does not always go smoothly. Sometimes when there is a problem with the railway, we have to ask our neighbors to help look after our children. For example, in 2017, the incident caused my wife and I to be stuck at Tuy Hoa station (Phu Yen) for nearly a month. If our neighbors did not help look after our children, we would not have known how to cope, ” Van shared.

He said his 8-year-old daughter has never spent New Year's Eve with her parents. Sometimes he and his wife just wish that at the moment of transition from the old year to the new year, the train would stop for a few more minutes at the station near their house so they could quickly light incense on the ancestral altar, sit down on the bed, tenderly kiss their sleeping child, and send their parents, wife and children another good New Year's wish... But that wish, for more than 10 years now, is still far away.

“ The cozy feeling on New Year’s Eve is what everyone desires, but for us railway staff, that expectation has to be put aside. Because passengers are waiting and our happiness is to bring joy to many passengers and their families, ” Mr. Van shared.

Since starting their career 11 years ago, Le Thanh Van (38 years old) and his wife Tran Thi Nhung (33 years old) have never been able to stay home on the 30th and 1st of Tet. (Photo: NVCC)

After a few minutes of contemplation, Mr. Van continued his story: “ The recent New Year was a great sadness and torment for me. On January 1, 2024, at 2:15 p.m., I was preparing to take a group of tourists to Phan Thiet back to Saigon station when I received a telegram from home informing me that my father had passed away. I had to run into my room on the train to hide my emotions and cry a little because I couldn’t be there when my father took his last breath.

When I arrived at Saigon station, all flights to Vinh were sold out. The next morning, I took the earliest flight back but I didn’t have time to see my father, and there were only 5 minutes left before he was buried. I only had time to pick up a few handfuls of sand to fill his grave. All my relatives were waiting because I was the only son .

The nature of the job puts railway workers like Mr. Van at a disadvantage because they have to be away from home and relatives during the New Year or during important family events.

“ There are many sorrows but also many joys, so my wife and I still choose the railway job because we get to meet many people and go to many places… That is something other professions can never have, ” Mr. Van smiled behind his still red eyes.

And the story of "not being able to fulfill one's duty as a professional" is always a source of anxiety for railway workers.

On the morning of December 28, Mr. Nguyen Huu Toan - Deputy Commander of SE3/4 train was on the journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi when he heard that his mother had an accident at home and was being treated in the emergency room. His father, who is seriously ill, is also being treated in Ho Chi Minh City. Since there are few people at home, his mother currently has no one to take care of her.

Feeling like he was on fire, he quickly called his boss and asked to go to Nghe An station to take care of his mother for a day. “ During the peak Tet season, taking a day off would put the work on the other people on the train. It was very painful ,” Toan mused.

And following the trains to welcome the New Year on the railways has gradually become a "daily affair" for those who have been involved in the railway industry for many years.

The train's howl echoed as it left the station in the chilly night, the silhouettes of people and vehicles slowly receding on both sides of the road. The train continued to rush through the night, continuing its noble mission.

The last train of the year, filled with love and joy of reunion, is rushing one after another on the tracks...

On the small table in the SE10 train conductor's room on the North-South route, a bouquet of wild plum blossoms that a passenger resolutely pressed into Mr. Toan's hand upon getting off the station "to add a Tet atmosphere to the train" quietly bloomed in its rough, mossy shell....

The day of reunion in Tet is coming very close to everyone, but far away for those who bring the trains across New Year's Eve.

Let me conclude the "year-end journey" with the sharing of Train Captain Le Thanh Van to his colleagues, as a thank you to those who "bring spring to every home":

Where are you this Tet?

As the new year approaches, while everyone gathers together to celebrate New Year's Eve, we, the railway employees, are still the same as usual.

The task of selecting people to work on New Year's Eve or all three days of Tet is something that all railway employees have to go through. We see the passengers' suitcases and bags full, but ours seem much heavier because they contain so much nostalgia.

Everyone is eager to go home after a year of hard work. But this year, my little daughter, who used to follow her father on the train because there was no one to look after her, can now go home to celebrate Tet with her grandparents.

So like every other day at 8:30 pm, I called Zalo to talk to my dad, but today I kept crying and wouldn't stop, just asking: "Why do other people have their parents by their side but I don't, dad? I feel so sorry for myself, dad."

The sentence made my heart stop, I had to swallow my tears and hide my true feelings and answer my son: "Just wait, dad will come back!" - "So how many more days do you have to wait for dad?".

A disadvantage for all the children and staff working on the train is that when people are happiest, I am the saddest because I take everyone back to their hometowns to reunite, take everyone on a spring outing but I can only watch when the train stops at my hometown and cannot return. If we are like you, who will take you back to your hometown?

Every job has its own mission and is noble when placed in the right circumstances.

Come on my friends! Don't be sad, don't be sad!