Xinhua selects world pictures of the year 2019

A U.S. Metra train runs on tracks on fire at Western Avenue station in Chicago, the United States, on Feb. 1, 2019. Chicago's railway system uses gas-fed heaters that run alongside the rails to keep them warm, in case frozen tracks causes traffic disruption. The biggest city in the U.S. Midwest was hit by the polar vortex with minimum temperature reaching record low of minus 30 degrees Celsius on Jan. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)