Tough life of China's high maintenance team

The eight members from the road maintenance team (dressed in orange jackets), in front of the workers'dorm, on Oct 15. [Photo by Gao Yu/ Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Our job is to maintain a 10-kilometer section of the highway, mostly involving breaking open the road blocked by snowstorm, snowslides, landslides or rain-triggered mudslides to restore traffic flow, and rescuing and accommodating stranded passengers. If there is no road closure, geological or climate disaster, we collect and load stones to pave the impaired parts of the road, and cover them with dirt, so as to make the road less bumpy,"Zheng Liang, a 41-year-old male worker said.

A hazardous, tough job March is the busiest month for road workers, when mountain snows begin to thaw. Snowfalls on Que'er Mountain normally last from October to May, according to workers.

"In regards to my most dangerous experience at work, about five to six years ago - I can't remember the exact year - but it was in March, I and another worker headed to remove snow at a blocked section of the road. I drove the snow plow, while he watched the road for me. A giant snowball fell from above and hit and stranded our car, and I heard a big ‘bang' on top of the vehicle. Half of the window on my side was covered with snow. We got out from another door and found that our plow had stopped on the verge of a mountain cliff,"said Zeng, the team head and, with 15 years' service, the worker with the longest experience in this team.

"We encountered this accident at around 6pm, and it took us three hours to clear the snow on top of and around the snow plow, by using spades, washbasins and our bare hands. At around 9pm, we started removing the snow on the road ahead. We kept working until about 6am the next day and got the road opened to traffic.

"The longest time that I have worked continuously is 48 hours, when I directed workers to open a road closed by snowfall."

Hard living conditions

According to the team members, the road section they are tasked to maintain must remain a dirt road, due to reasons that an asphalt road would be more slippery if snowed under, and frost heaves can crack asphalt at a below-30 C temperature. A dirt road can be extremely bumpy and muddy in rain or snow seasons. Adding to the fact that the team is stationed on such a remote, high mountain, the two factors resulted in tough transportation from their station to anywhere else and vice versa.

"Water shortage is the largest problem. The road management bureau sent workers from downtown Dege county, about 70 kilometers away from our station, or Garze county, about 150 kilometers away, to transfer 10 plastic buckets of water, each 25 liters, every four days. The water is just enough under conditions that we use the same water to wash vegetables, our face, clothes and then feet,"Zheng said. "Every month, four of our 12 members go to downtown Dege county to take a shower, by hitchhiking along the highway. We take turns in taking showers."

Another difficulty brought by the tough traffic is getting medical service. "On one occasion, several years ago, my belly suddenly became painful while working. But the cellphone signal was so bad that we couldn't reach anyone,"Li Kai, a male worker in his 30s, said.

"Another worker took me on his motorcycle and rode for two hours to get me to the fourth road maintenance team, also under the administration of Dege County Road Management Bureau, which is about 10 kilometers away, the nearest inhabited site from our station. There we called the road bureau, which later sent a car to transport me to hospital. The dirt road was really bumpy. I felt a lot of pain on that motorcycle."

Until now, the team has had no transport vehicles. A worker bought his own van in 2010 and sometimes helps the other team members to get down the mountain to nearby places for medicine or other emergency conditions.

The only vacation for the workers that allows them to leave the mountain is the Spring Festival, when they can have 50 days off to visit families. But the way home is not all easy.

"Our station is about 70 kilometers from downtown Dege county. We hitchhike there, then take coaches or trains home,"Li said.

Since the old signal tower broke down in 2009, cellphone signals have been confined to a mountain slope 200 meters away from the workers' dorm. Workers can only make phone calls there outdoor, without any shelter. "The signals at that spot are just OK for cellphone calls, but with bad mobile internet access. We can hardly use online services including the popular social networking sites like Wechat, which we really look forward to use to communicate with family members. I hope to have face time online with my families, which is quite easy to achieve on flatlands,"Zheng said.

Seperation with family members

As the team head, Zeng Shuangquan is the only one in this team who can drive a snow plow, and for the past 15 years he has never taken the 50-day Spring Festival vacation that every other team member has enjoyed. "Winter is a peak season for snowslides, and if that happens in a far-off road section, I need to drive the plow there. It is our responsibility to ensure the 10-kilometer road we take charge of is open, at all times,"Zeng said.

Thirty-year-old Liu Xiaogang said he felt guilty that he was unable to fulfil his responsibility as a son, husband and father.