Connecting cities: An aerial photo showing the high-speed electrical multiple unit train of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway running in Purwakarta, Indonesia. — Xinhua
Driving a train that runs 350kph was once unimaginable for Wawan Setiawan, an Indonesian freight train driver with 10 years of experience.
But now he is on track to be among the first high-speed train drivers in his country and, more broadly, South-East Asia.
In 2020, when the China-Indonesia joint venture tasked with building the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway began recruiting train drivers, Wawan rushed to apply.
“Technology, operation, safety methods – everything I learn is new and exciting,” said Wawan, who has been receiving training from Chinese high-speed train drivers ever since.
Mu Zhen, Wawan’s driving practice mentor, is the Chinese train driver for the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, which links Indonesia’s capital with its fourth-largest city.
In an operation simulator, Mu told Wawan to ease as the Indonesian driver’s right hand tightly gripped the speed control handle.
“Tension may lead to misoperation as the handle has high sensitivity,” Mu detailed the reason and guided Wawan to try again.
“I am excited to mentor Indonesian train drivers and happy to share my skills without reservation. I’m learning Indonesian to overcome language barriers,” said Mu, who arrived in Indonesia last October and has been preparing for the operation of the railway line.
“The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway was built with Chinese standards and technology, so driving the high-speed train here feels the same as in China,” said Mu.
A landmark project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the 142km Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway cuts the journey between the two cities from over three hours to roughly 40 minutes.
“The development of a high-speed railway will encourage a bigger economy because it will support faster mobility,” said Wawan, adding that he hopes the high-speed railway can be extended to Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city and seaport.
“I studied hard and did my best to ensure that I could become one of the first high-speed train drivers in Indonesia and South-East Asia,” said Wawan.
“If life is a train that runs on a track, then my life just got sped up – super fast, super exciting and full of hope,” he said.
China has been building rails, ports and other infrastructure with countries under the Belt and Road cooperation that have helped boost regional connectivity and create jobs for locals.
The Lao section of the China-Laos Railway, launched in December 2021, has created more than 110,000 jobs.
Twenty-four-year-old Sida Phengphongsawanh is one of them.
Sida became a train inspector at the China-Laos Railway Vientiane Operation Management Centre in 2021 after studying electric automation in China for four years and receiving training in Chinese and railway knowledge at the Confucius Institute in Laos.
“The mentors here have been so patient since my internship. Because it was the first time we touched real trains, everything was new to us and they taught us step by step in a patient way,” she said.
In East Africa, 28-year-old Anketsebrhan Girma had long dreamed of becoming a pioneer modern train driver in her country, Ethiopia.
She achieved her dream by persevering through intense competition before joining the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company in 2018 after graduating from university, eventually becoming Ethiopia’s first female electrified train driver.
She is now an assistant train driver for the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, which connects the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to the Red Sea port of Djibouti.
Since July, Girma and 27 colleagues have undergone a six-month training programme in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. They are the second batch of Ethiopian trainees to enrol at the Zhengzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College.
The first batch of 34 trainees has entirely commanded the skills of driving, monitoring, checking and maintaining electrified trains after eight months of practical training in 2020 and are now capable of independently driving an electrified train.
After returning home, they quickly became the backbone of the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway.
One of the 34 trainees, Dejen Gezu, is now tasked with driving and training young colleagues.
“I know everyone currently in China receiving the training, particularly Anketsebrhan Girma, the only female train driver we have,” he said.
“I dreamed of driving the train independently like Gezu after studying in China,” Girma said.
In neighbouring Kenya, the 480km Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), launched in mid-2017, connects the country’s capital city with its eastern port.
It has cut travel time by half, from an average of 10 hours on the century-old metre-gauge railway to approximately five hours, boosting the movement of people and cargo.
A supervisor at the rolling stock department of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, Lawrence Pius Murithi, is proud to have a prized career that has eluded most of his peers.
“I was lucky to be chosen to join the SGR for the maintenance of passenger trains,” said the 32-year-old mechanical engineering graduate, adding that he has sharpened his technical and managerial skills over the last six years since joining the growing ranks of local youth working for the rail.
Over the past decade, more than 421,000 local jobs were created globally under the Belt and Road cooperation. — Xinhua
