The New Year goes to the grassroots | Nanjing, Jiangsu: “EMU Doctors” protect the Spring Festival, and “look, hear, ask, and feel” to treat the disease
2024/01/30 20:09 Nanjing Daily
□ Reporter from Nanjing Daily/Purple Mountain News
Wu Chunxia
Intern Liu Xingyue
Correspondent Zhou Yuxiang
The Spring Festival travel season has begun, and many people have already embarked on or are preparing to embark on their journey home. This year, traveling by high-speed rail or high-speed train is still the main choice for tourists in Nanjing. However, when passengers arrive at the destination, where will these high-speed rail trains or EMUs go after “getting off work”? Recently, reporters came to the Nanjing EMU Operation Station in the Nanjing EMU section to see how the staff conduct “physical examinations” on the EMU.
At 9:30 a.m., an EMU train full of passengers completed unloading passengers at Nanjing Railway Station and slowly drove into the Nanjing EMU Station of Nanjing EMU. Zhou Hongjun, a ground maintenance mechanic of the second-level maintenance team, put on his safety helmet and picked up a flashlight, ready to start the day’s work.
Speaking of the high-speed train operation center, it is like a “4S shop for high-speed trains”. EMUs running on thousands of miles of railway lines will return here to carry out corresponding levels of maintenance after running for a certain period or a certain number of kilometers. “Take the second-level maintenance as an example. If the train runs for 28 days and travels about 30,000 kilometers, it needs to return to the EMU operating station for an overhaul.” Zhou Hongjun told reporters that the second-level maintenance is mainly for the key systems and key parts of the EMU. Components undergo periodic maintenance and upkeep, such as grease filling of each system and gearbox oil replacement, regular maintenance of batteries and air conditioners, flaw detection of wheels and axles, etc.
During the Spring Festival travel rush, the safe and efficient operation of trains is inseparable from a group of “train doctors” like Zhou Hongjun who silently protect passengers’ travel.
In the three-story maintenance warehouse, the reporter saw that on the four 500-meter-long maintenance tracks, multiple ground mechanics in blue uniforms were busy on the roof, bottom, and carriages of the train. Second-level repairs are being carried out on the EMU units that have been put into storage.
When you usually take a high-speed train, you are more exposed to the service equipment inside the train. Only when you walk into the maintenance base can you really feel the visual shock brought by the huge thing. “Although the EMU is a behemoth, every small bolt is related to the operation safety of the EMU.” Zhou Hongjun said that the secondary repair of an EMU requires a team of 22 people to spend 4 hours to complete.
The EMU can run fast and steadily, and many key parts are under the car. The cardan shaft that the staff is inspecting is an important part of transmitting power to the EMU train.
The reporter followed Zhou Hongjun into the maintenance channel at the bottom of the train. In a narrow space, they have to complete various tasks such as inspection, maintenance, and replacement of parts. I saw Zhou Hongjun moving quickly and skillfully. He kept tapping with his flashlight, carefully checking every component, and marking it from time to time. Whether there are cracks in the interface, whether the screws are loose…these common problems can be discovered by just touching them with his hands. “In addition to using professional instruments and equipment for inspections, touching with your hands, listening with your ears, and smelling with your nose…these are also our ‘compulsory courses’.” Zhou Hongjun said that sometimes he feels that his work is very similar to that of traditional Chinese medicine. “Seeing a doctor” also requires “looking, hearing, asking, and understanding.”
Zhou Hongjun has been working in the Nanjing high-speed train section for 5 years. A high-speed train has 8 carriages, 201 meters long, and tens of thousands of parts. He has to take tens of thousands of steps every day, and a set of actions must be repeated hundreds of thousands of times, accurate to every part and every crack. Zhou Hongjun said that for railway people, if railway safety cannot be 100 points, it will be 0 points.
Due to the open environment of the EMU workshop, even if the heater is turned on in winter, the indoor temperature is less than 10°C. “We work the night shift until 5 to 6 in the morning, which can be said to be the coldest time of the day.” Zhou Hongjun said, breathing into his hands, “The maintenance of an EMU requires at least 8 trips back and forth, the working time of each maintenance shift is 12 hours. At the end of the day, my arms and cervical vertebrae will hurt.”
“During the Spring Festival travel rush, the number and duration of train operations will increase, and the number of EMU maintenance will increase accordingly.” Tan Jun, a dispatcher at the dispatching team of the Nanjing EMU Operation Station in the Nanjing EMU section, said that trains usually run until 11:00 to 12:00 at night and can return. During the Spring Festival travel period, cars had to wait until 4 to 5 a.m. before returning to the factory. In the past, maintenance could be completed at 6 a.m., but now it has to be delayed until 8 a.m.
In order to ensure that there are enough vehicles on the line during the Spring Festival travel period, Zhou Hongjun and his colleagues will try their best to complete train maintenance in advance. “Usually, a group has some time to rest after maintenance, but during the Spring Festival travel period, they really didn’t dare to rest for a minute.” Zhou Hongjun said that in order to ensure the safety of the train, they did not even dare to drink more water and reduce the number of trips to the bathroom as much as possible.
This year is Zhou Hongjun’s fifth year at work. In his impression, he spends almost every New Year’s Eve at work. During the Spring Festival this year, this place is still busy. The “EMU doctors” will work together with care and responsibility to build a safety wall to allow the EMUs to drive in and out safely, ensuring the smooth operation of the railway during the Spring Festival.