A Chinese city's railway station has so few passengers that it has become a pasture for animals.

Only two train services run from Beihai station, in Guangxi province, and they take twice as long as the bus.

The station is so quiet that cattle grazes on the grass outside, reports the Star Online. Ducks waddle around the entrance while chickens search for scraps of food.

Locals say they have got used to the rural scene and would be surprised if they didn't see any wildlife.

But Beihei is a popular tourism centre, close to renowned beaches and home to one of China's biggest aquariums.

Wang Haibo, director of the railway station, revealed: "In the past six months, we have had only 24,506 passengers. That's too few for a big railway station like this one."

Only two trains stopped at the station and the travel time to either destination was three hours.

"However, it only takes one and a half hours to travel the same distance by bus. Therefore most passengers choose to take the bus," he added.

"We are looking for ways to attract more people to take the train."