Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    CONVENIENCE, punctuality and comfort are some of the benefits that Shenzhen’s Metro system has brought to local residents. Yet when service to the public ends at 11 p.m. every night, the work of many of the employees of Shenzhen Metro Group is just beginning. Maintenance work, token accounting, tunnel inspection and operation control are just some of the jobs that have to be done after the trains stop running.

    At 11:44 p.m. every day, when the last train leaves the platform of Zhuzilin Station on Luobao Line, Wang Dandi, head of the station, and three others get busy checking the halls, entrances, exits, and close all the elevators.

    An important job at midnight for Wang and her subordinates is to clear and count the coins and bank notes from ATM machines and tokens from turnstiles, which generally takes about three hours.

    Maintenance on the escalators, another important job, can only be done at night, after the 17 hours of daytime operations cease. Temperatures inside the maintenance cabs are generally 20 degrees Celsius higher than the temperature in the station, a result of the continuous operations of the machines.

    On Luobao Line alone, there are 267 escalators that need daily maintenance. The work can sometimes last until 6 a.m.

    “In this narrow and hot space, we have to clean and adjust the gears, and make sure everything is well-oiled,” said Lin Han, an engineer with the electric department.

    Tunnel inspection is another key job to ensure safe operation of the lines.

    The light inside the tunnels is rather dim, and people can’t see the end of the tunnel without the help of a strong flashlight.

    Tunnel inspection is regarded as a lonely job because there is usually no other noise except for the humming of machines.

    “The tunnels are humid, and the equipment gets wet, so we have to be thorough when we check the devices,” said Zhao Wanquan, a tunnel inspector.

    The humid environment is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and nobody can escape from mosquito bites when working there for hours. Shenzhen Metro Group has 2,000 tunnel inspectors who take shifts working between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. They each generally work 264 night shifts a year, and most inspectors are under age 35 since the job is very physical.

    Train maintenance is also a routine job.

    “When trains arrive at the depot, we make a thorough check of every one of them, which takes about eight-nine hours from 7:50 p.m. to 4 a.m.,” said Zeng Chunhai, a train mechanic.

    For the coming National Day holiday, Zeng and his coworkers will have to work their regular shifts.

    At present, Shenzhen Metro services include five lines that carry more than 2 million passengers a day.