Sub-human lifestyles

Source:Xinhua-Global Times Published: 2014-5-6 20:23:01

Two subway drivers work on a line which connects the Beijing airport and the downtown area. Photo: CFP



 International Workers' Day, which falls on May 1 each year, has never brought subway driver Kuang Wentian, 34, much respite from the total darkness of the tunnels he traverses. On the contrary, the increased traffic on the national holiday brings him even more stress.

During the recent Workers' Day, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, expected record traffic of 7.7 million passengers on the subway.

The stress Kuang endures is common among subway drivers in China, which has seen fast expansion of underground networks in major cities. By 2020, 50 cities are expected to have subway networks, compared to 19 at the end of 2013.

The problems drivers face, related to darkness, repetition and issues relating to stress and emotional problems, have prompted some operators of subway lines to provide psychological help to subway drivers to help prevent long-term health problems.

Emotional roller coaster

Over the past 16 years, Kuang has covered more than 500,000 kilometers, equivalent to more than 12 times around the globe, and carried tens of millions of passengers without incident. Despite this perfect safety record, Kuang can never relax during his tedious daily routine. He is forever pulling hand levers, signaling, monitoring, opening and closing doors, and watching passengers in the carriages and on the platform.

"The biggest headaches are equipment malfunctions. We're required to soothe the passengers, find the problem and fix it, all within three minutes," he said.

As a result of soaring passenger numbers, the interval between trains has been reduced to less than three minutes, which is a big safety issue for drivers, said Huang Ping, a senior manager with Guangzhou metro.

For Kuang, the loneliness he suffers underground every day is worse than the stress. "You sit for eight hours in the tunnel alone, and must stay alert the whole time," he said, adding that he has spent New Year's Eve in the noisy cab many times.

Song Guoping, an occupational psychologist with Shaanxi Normal University, believes subway drivers feel isolated because they have few chances to interact with workmates and many are dissatisfied with their pay and career prospects.

Unlike car drivers who can feel the sunlight and may encounter varied conditions like traffic jams, which can serve to hold their attention, subway drivers work in dark tunnels and the routes are same, but they have to stay focused while repeating the same work every day.

Song said these feelings are likely to take a toll on drivers' personal lives. "For example, some take their silence in the cab back home, while some are just the opposite, talking too much after work."

Some subway drivers are also bothered by the problem of low pay.

A 27-year-old subway driver in Shenzhen committed suicide on Sunday. In a note left behind, he said he had been suffering heavy pressure not only from work, but also from pressures because his salary is not enough to buy an apartment and to form a family, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The Shenzhen Subway Company did not respond to the issue. Net users who claimed to be employees of Shenzhen Subway Company said the annual salary for a senior subway driver was around 80,000 yuan ($12,811) while it costs more than 15,000 yuan per square meter for a flat in Shenzhen.

Another subway driver, surnamed Li, who works on line 10 in Beijing, said that as the subway network expands, more malfunctions have occurred during peak times, and sometimes, due to too much pressure, the train could not arrive at station on time. In these cases, the drivers are fined. Li said their monthly salary is around 3,500 yuan and generally one third of it will be used to pay the rent.

Since the two-yuan subway ticket is so cheap, he and his colleagues say they do not expect their salaries to increase.

"I heard Beijing is set to increase the subway train ticket price and many residents are opposing it. But we subway drivers hope we can benefit from the increase," he said.

In fact, Beijing government has allocated more than 10 billion yuan of subsidy every year to balance the deficit that subway companies are facing, an insider told China Business News.

Psychological counseling

A regulation by the Standardization Administration of China that took effect on April 1 rules that subway drivers must take psychological tests on a regular basis.

In November 2011, Guangzhou's Southern Medical University launched a 24-hour hotline to help the 1,600 drivers working on the Guangzhou metro to deal with stress. The average age of the drivers is 26, and by February 2014, nearly 700 drivers and their families had spoken to counselors on the phone.

A similar hotline was opened for young drivers on three subway lines in Shanghai in 2013. In addition to answering day-to-day calls for help, consultants often have to deal with drivers who encounter suicide at work.

In the past decade, Song and her team have been providing psychological counseling to subway drivers in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The psychologists suggested that the drivers rearrange their working environment to improve their mood and someone brought a toy bear into the cab. "The fluffy texture of toys can make some people feel secure," Song said.

The drivers' families were also encouraged to give care and support, which is "very important to the drivers' mental health," she said.

Posted in: Society, China

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