Hospital train exhibition to open in 2022

China's Lifeline Express, a charitable organization that provides free eye surgeries to impoverished cataract patients in rural parts of China, plans to open an exhibition on its first-ever hospital train next year.

The China Railway Museum houses the first Lifeline Express, an eye surgery hospital train that stopped operation in 2019, as shown in this picture taken on December 16, 2021. [Photo provided to China Plus]

The first Lifeline Express, a rainbow-colored train, stayed in operation for more than two decades on the Chinese mainland since July 1997. In 2019, it stopped operation and became housed in the China Railway Museum.

After repairs and restoration, the outperforming train would be a major piece of exhibit for next year’s exhibition, showcasing how it functioned in the surgeries on over 60,000 cataract patients.

Exhibition visitors are allowed to go inside the train, so as to obtain better understanding about its operation.

In 2021, two hospital trains, departing Beijing in May, conducted 6,000 eye surgeries in provinces including Henan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Hubei and Shandong, according to its organizer, the Lifeline Express.

The China Railway Museum houses the first Lifeline Express, an eye surgery hospital train that stopped operation in 2019, as shown in this picture taken on December 16, 2021. [Photo provided to China Plus]