First batch of 547 Hubei migrant workers return to work locations by special train

On the morning of March 18, 547 migrant workers departed from Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China’s Hubei province, the China epicenter of the novel coronavirus epidemic, for Shaoxing, Zhejiang province in eastern China.

This non-stop train is the first special train taking migrant workers from Enshi, a place known for the export of labor service, back to work since this year’s Spring Festival holiday. It is also the first one in China to stop at a station in Hubei designated for passenger boarding since the beginning of the province’s epidemic prevention and control efforts started.

To stem the spread of the virus, Enshi, like many other cities in Hubei, was locked down by the end of January, leaving workers who were about to go back to their working places after the Spring Festival no choice but to stay at home.

To make sure every migrant worker can board the special train, the government of Enshi arranged dedicated vehicles to take them to the train station for free.

“I became anxious because I had no income while staying at home. I signed up immediately when I heard about the train. I feel grateful to the local government for making such thoughtful arrangements,” one of the migrant workers said.

Due to the epidemic, production in many companies in Shaoxing couldn’t run smoothly as some critical employees from Hubei weren’t able to go back to work as planned, according to the Shaoxing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

The bureau analyzed relevant information related to the Hubei population in Shaoxing, including information about 76,000 transients from Hubei and the social insurance data of 35,000 migrant workers from Hubei’s noncritically-hit areas during the epidemic.

Based on this information and the actual epidemic situation of Hubei province, the bureau then formulated a plan for taking employees back from certain areas of Hubei and set up a working group to bring workers in low-risk cities such as Qianjiang, Enshi and Xianning back.

Various measures were adopted to ensure health safety on the journey. Passengers were required to go through multiple relevant information checkpoints, which required them to verify items such as their ID cards, health certificate, information of the carriage, and body temperature. They were asked to keep a safe distance from each other.

Medical supplies and supplies for urgent needs were also prepared on the train.

Upon arrival in Shaoxing, they had their body temperature checked again and started to stay in the quarantine center for medical observation for 14 days. Their expenses during the quarantine period are to be covered by the Shaoxing government.

In the following days, Enshi will make more efforts to contact other provinces where most of its migrant workers are concentrated, such as Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian. Thereafter, it will arrange more services of this kind so as to help more workers in Enshi get back to work, according to Tao Wensheng, director of the bureau for employment and human resources in Enshi.