From horseback to train, a Tajik conductor's journey

URUMQI, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Unlike her elder generations, who rarely left the pastoral areas in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Airkir Duliki has frequently traveled through various areas of Xinjiang and other parts of China, mostly by train.

Airkir Duliki is China's first Tajik train conductor, working for the Chengdu fleet of the China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd.

The 27-year-old is in charge of the services on the train running on the line connecting Kashgar Prefecture, in southern Xinjiang, to the city of Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan Province. As an important line, the passenger flow of the train remains high all year round.

Airkir Duliki's responsibilities include keeping order, quickly organizing passengers as they enter and leave the train, and keeping the daily supplies well stocked. According to her, there are some 25 stations in total between the two locations, and sometimes the dwell time is only two minutes.

"I must be clear-headed, responsible for more than 20 colleagues in the team, and serve more than 1,000 passengers on the whole train," she said.

Airkir Duliki was born and raised near the snow-capped mountains and on pastures of the Tajik Autonomous County of Taxkorgan on the Pamir Plateau.

Her first train ride was to the regional capital of Urumqi to attend university, which was more than 1,000 km away. At that time, her father Duliki Bairfek drove more than 300 km of mountain roads to escort her to the nearest railway station.

After arriving at the school, Airkir Duliki rang up her father to say that everything was alright. Her father, who had waited at the train station for more than 10 hours for the notification, finally returned home.

Having lived in the pastoral areas since childhood, Airkir Duliki has developed a warm and optimistic personality. "Our village is small, the neighbors help each other, and everyone is friendly and hospitable," she said. In her view, the essence of providing railway services is the desire to help one another.

Recalling her first days as a train attendant, she said she was under a lot of pressure.

"After more than half a year, I became a qualified attendant," she said. During her four years as an attendant, she scored among the best in all assessments. In 2023, she signed up for the train conductor qualification examination and passed a series of comprehensive evaluations with excellent results.

To provide passengers with a pleasant train ride, she and her colleagues would invite them to dance and sing together, helping to enhance their enjoyment of Xinjiang's beauty.

"When I was a child, I had never seen a train, and I thought it was a great thing. Now I work on the train every day, and I still think it is great, because of the changes it has brought about," she said.