Railway signal workers stick to 40-day posts in Wuhan

Three high-speed railway workers have worked at their posts for 40 days to secure the safety of signal systems at a station on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

They are Zhang Donglong, Li Lang and Qi Mengtai, workers at the Hengdian East Railway Station located at the intersection of the Beijing-Guangzhou and Shanghai-Chengdu high-speed railways.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, local authorities have launched measures to prevent and control the disease, such as locking down Wuhan for travel in or out.

As many other employees could not reach the station during the epidemic battle, the three then kept working at the station to secure the safety of the high-speed railway system there.

Frequent temperature changes in early spring would impact railway signaling equipment greatly, leading to hidden safety hazards and increasing the workload of signal workers.

Zhang Donglong, signal engineer, would carefully monitor the equipment and check and repair any problems every day.

"During the day, except for monitoring temperature data, I also need to record the health status of myself and my family," Zhang said.

The three workers would thoroughly sterilize offices, dormitories, kitchens and other places, and strengthen the cleaning work. "We must stay the course and contribute to the fight against the new epidemic," they said.