Overseas students volunteer at high-speed railways during Lunar New Year rush
- Five students prepare to face one of the busiest times of year on China’s trains
- After classroom work and one-on-one mentoring, volunteers take on the public
Passengers on high-speed trains in northwestern China may be served by foreign conductors, as overseas students from Xian Jiaotong University join the railway in time for the Lunar New Year travel season.
The five students – from Mexico, Tajikistan, Nigeria, Antigua and Barbuda, and Guyana – have volunteered in an effort to understand the peak travel season known as chunyun, and the development of China’s high-speed rail network, Shaanxi-based news portal Hsw.cn reported.
During the 40-day period which began on Monday, about three billion passenger trips are expected to take place across the country.
The volunteers will serve once a week on services between the Shaanxi capital of Xian, and Chengdu in Sichuan, or between Xian and the western Shaanxi city of Baoji. A single journey on these two lines typically takes about three hours.
Two of the volunteers are women, and the average age of the group is 25. They took classroom training and one-on-one mentoring before going to work. The students must be familiar with equipment on trains, work procedures and service skills, the report said.
A senior official from the rail authority said the students could communicate in simple Mandarin. A female student from Antigua and Barbuda was quoted as saying that she was glad to join the rail service.
“This job cannot only improve my verbal Chinese but also can enhance my understanding of traditional Chinese culture,” she said.
3 billion trips in 40 days: China’s Lunar New Year migration begins
The five, selected by the university, represent a second batch of overseas conductor volunteers. The first joined the railway during the chunyun period last year.
