Li Qiuye, a young engineer in China's railway system, excels in train maintenance through combination of technical precision with persistence to ensure passenger safety. Highly skilled as she is, Li now passes on her knowledge to the next generation of women in rail.
Born in 1998 in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Li pursued a degree in Materials Science and Engineering at the Tongji University in Shanghai in 2016. After graduating in 2020, she joined the passenger train maintenance workshop of the Urumqi Depot under China Railway Urumqi Group that October. Today, she works as an assistant engineer focusing on train inspection and maintenance.
"The goal of passenger train maintenance is to ensure the trains run safely and smoothly, and most importantly, to guarantee a secure and comfortable journey for travelers. We have a saying: 'The ones who fix the train think about the ones who ride it.' That means when we are doing maintenance, we are thinking about our own friends, family members, or even ourselves as passengers. Can we feel a ride that's stable, safe and smooth? All functional electrical tests must be in top condition," Li said in an interview with China Global Television Network ahead of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women scheduled for Oct 13 and 14 in Beijing.
When she first began working in electrical maintenance, the technology and complexity were overwhelming.
"At the beginning, reading circuit diagrams was like reading a foreign language. I could spend half a day in the power distribution room, staring at the schematics, matching each component on paper to a part in our actual distribution cabinets. To improve faster, I would ask everyone questions and check things up whenever I didn't understand. After I asked and researched, I recorded every detail in my fault logbook. What takes others a year or two to fill, I filled in a few months. The faults I recorded became my encyclopedia for future troubleshooting," Li said.
Li also highlighted the mentorship process at the depot. She explained that after joining the team, every new employee is required to sign a mentorship agreement and is paired with a senior technician who guides them from the ground up.
Li noted that these mentors generously share the knowledge and experience they have accumulated over many years, even decades. This system, she said, helped her grow into someone capable of working independently. Now, she and her colleagues are passing on what they have learned by mentoring newly recruited university graduates.
"In the electrical department of our workshop, women make up about 17 percent of the staff. Sure, when it comes to physical strength or stamina, women may not be on a par with men. But with the advancement of technology, I believe those gaps can be bridged. A single cabinet might contain hundreds of components and wires. As a woman, I think I may be more patient and detail-oriented. These small differences or faults can be easier for us to spot and handle effectively," Li said.
"The newly placed female graduates often come to me for advice, and I will help them however I can. I hope they shine in the technical field and that we can continue to expand the impact of women in engineering," she said.
Young female rail engineer excels in train maintenance
