As the mountainous citrus orchards in Yungquan Town, Linhai, enter maturity, the hills are brimming with oranges transitioning from green to golden yellow, a sight that stimulates the saliva. The oranges are delicious, but the harvest is difficult. Planting fruits on the mountains and transporting them down has always been a challenge. Now, with the rapid development and application of mountain rail vehicles, this problem is becoming a thing of the past.

"This track was constructed two years ago, and the four tracks here were built in June this year."

"This year, it's all about this little train for picking oranges."

"This thing can pull 400 jin in one go, it's definitely useful."

……

On October 16th, at the acceptance site of the mountain rail vehicle behind the Yongquan Town Donghai Orange Sorting Center in Yongquan, orange farmers marveled at the track cutting through the orange orchard on the mountain.

Last year, my family built a 500-meter rail cart on another hillside, which is very useful for transporting fertilizer and oranges. It takes just 15 minutes for a round trip, saving both effort and time. So this year, we've constructed another 200-meter rail cart on this hillside. At 61 years old, Dai Rongjin has nearly 2,000 orange trees on his mountain, and the daily management is handled by him and a few of his brothers. "The young ones have all gone to work, so it's us older folks taking care of the orange trees. This rail cart has made things much easier. Plus, the government offers installation subsidies, which is a great deal."

Journalists learned that monorail transport vehicles for mountainous (flat) terrain are a relatively new agricultural machinery product in Taizhou. Although the first mountainous monorail transport system in the province was laid in Meizhan Village, Yongquan Town, Linhai City back in 2011, it was only until recent years that these vehicles gained recognition and widespread use among farmers. Particularly after 2017 when they were included in the national agricultural machinery subsidy directory, the development of Taizhou's rail transport vehicles experienced a surge.

In the early stages of promotion, the main users of the installation were larger cooperatives. Over the past two years, after ordinary farmers experienced the practicality and convenience of the track vehicles, their enthusiasm for installation has increased as well. Particularly since 2018, the number of track vehicles in Linhai has seen an explosive growth. In 2017, 8 new tracks were added, in 2018, 99 new tracks, in the previous year, 265 new tracks, and this year, according to preliminary reports from the farmers, over 700 new mountainous track vehicles have been added in Linhai, with many more still in the installation process. Li Haili, Deputy Station Chief of the Machinery Management Division of the Linhai Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, Rural Affairs, and Rural Revitalization, introduced that staff from the division have been tirelessly traveling to various mountainous orchards in Linhai to conduct subsidy acceptance work for the mountainous track vehicles installed and constructed in 2020.

Li Haili explains that the explosive growth of mountainous track vehicles is mainly due to the solution they provide for the challenges of rural labor shortage and aging in mountainous agricultural planting.

Currently, the labor force for citrus planting in Linhai is predominantly older, with few under the age of 50. This rail-mounted vehicle is highly practical, saving time and labor, and effectively addresses the transportation challenges in mountainous agricultural planting, says Li Haili.