What they say

Editor's Note: The State Council Information Office invited representatives of outstanding railway professionals to meet journalists and answer questions on Monday.

My job, commonly known as "rail track doctor", is to examine railway tracks and find flaws. During the past 20 years since I joined the company, I have walked along nearly 40,000 kilometers of railway tracks. We walk to wherever the network extends to. It is a technical and ordinary job, but also a job with great responsibility.

Huang Tao, a railway worker who detects track defects at China Railway Lanzhou Group

It is very dull and tedious work to check train control data. However, in our line of work, we have to be precise and serious because any error may lead to unimaginable consequences. Train control data is related to the operational safety of high-speed railways and also closely related to ensuring the safety of passengers' lives. The slightest negligence is prohibited. Our work must be 100 percent correct.

Zheng Xiaoyan, an engineer in charge of train control system maintenance and operation at China Railway Zhengzhou Group

I have witnessed the rapid development of China-Europe freight train services in the past decade — from operating just one train service every several days to operating a dozen every day. The fully loaded trains carry more than a hundred varieties of products. I participated in the station's expansion project to greatly improve the efficiency. As the efficiency improves, our work at the station becomes smoother, which better facilitates the operation of China-Europe freight train services.

Ma Rutie, deputy station master of the operation workshop at Manzhouli Railway Station in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region

When I worked on the high-speed train for participants in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, I was impressed that many foreign passengers talked with us in Mandarin when they took the ride. When our crew members responded that we could understand what they said, they were very pleased. I think it reflected that when China prepared for the Games, the world had been paying more attention to our country and participants were preparing to come to China. More and more foreigners are learning Chinese and trying to understand Chinese culture.

Lyu Pan, a conductor of a high-speed train on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway

My family and I took a high-speed train to visit Beijing from our home in 2020. When the Fuxing high-speed train passed the Great Wall, I joked with my father that it meant that we had been to the Great Wall. At work, we used ladders in the past but now we have large equipment that is capable of carrying 50 workers at the same time to work above the trains, greatly improving the efficiency.

Du He, a worker from China Railway Hohhot Group who maintains the electricity network aboard high-speed trains