This is one of Popkov's finest and most lyrical works. It was painted shortly after he had graduated from art school and his sense of controlled optimism is apparent. The formal elements of the work correspond to Social Realism. However, Popkov does not paint the workers as happy in their labour simply to illustrate an ideological Communist agenda. He paints them as happy since, in the wake of Khruschev's 'Thaw', these handsome young men and women believe they have a happy future ahead of them. 

The 'Thaw' never quite delivered the new Golden Age that had been hoped for and a style of painting emerged, known as 'the Severe', which combined depictions of heroic toil with a sense of self knowledge and perspective. In this work, however, Popkov clearly intended the young tree in the foreground, with its sprouting leaves, to act as a metaphor for a sense of growth and positivity. 

Popkov's palette is also much warmer in this work than in his previous compositions. The warmer colours and the deft handling of paint, particularly in the depiction of steam beneath the train's wheels, recall the French Impressionists, perhaps Monet's series of Gare Saint-Lazare compositions. Popkov did not travel abroad for the first time until 1959 but his interest in 20th-century painting seems clear.