HUANG GUOQIANG, a railway worker at Shenzhen Railway Station, has been on duty during the annual Spring Festival travel rush for 37 years, and will retire from his post after finishing his last night shift this Chinese New Year’s Eve on Feb. 4, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

Born in 1959, Huang turns 60 this year. He has served as a switchman, a signalman, a station attendant and a rail traffic controller at the railway station since 1982. “After finishing the remaining six or seven work shifts, the pre-festival travel rush of the 2019 Spring Festival will end and I will retire,” said Huang.

Huang is a native of Guangzhou City. In 1982, he was discharged from the army and assigned to become a railway worker at Shenzhen Railway Station. He started as a switchman and worked outdoors whether it was windy or rainy, day or night.

Huang works seven or eight night shifts every month as a rail traffic controller. “I’ve already gotten used to the night shifts. But now, as I’m getting old, the quality of my sleep is getting worse,” he said.

According to Huang, the Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, is not the only busy period for railway workers. Whenever there is bad weather, travelers become restless and even more anxious to get home.

Huang said he has developed some habits related to his occupation. For instance, he observes railway stations even when he is traveling abroad.

“When I went to Russia the other year, I observed the rails of their stations all the way and found that some stations in our country are more traveler-friendly,” Huang laughed.

As his career is drawing to an end, Huang said he is reluctant to part with the young workers at the station. “As a supervisor, I am very strict with them on weekdays. But now I’m reluctant to leave as I have feelings for them.”

Huang also developed some health problems due to staying up late and sitting on guard for long periods over the years. “We really owe him a big thank-you as he’s been able to hold on to his post for nearly 40 years and never made any mistakes,” He Jin, an administrator at the station, told the Daily.

He hopes that Huang will pay more attention to his health and come back to the station to visit whenever he feels like it.

Looking back on the past 37 years, Huang said he is filled with mixed emotions. “I still remember how the railway station would be packed with passengers carrying small stools and lining up all night long to buy tickets during chunyun in those years. How time really flies!” (Zhang Yu)