FestivalspirithelpskidskeephomeconnectionaliveAhelpinghandhome..docVIP

A helping hand home By Lan Tian (China Daily)Updated: 2011-01-26 08:00 Comments(0) PrintMail Large Medium Small Train station attendant Shi Gaimei (center) and her colleagues help carry a passenger in a wheelchair to the boarding platform at Taiyuan Railway Station in this file photo. [Photo/China Daily] Taiyuan - Passengers with bulging luggage kept flowing through the waiting hall of the Taiyuan Railway Station. It was 12 days before the Chinese lunar new year, and the annual Spring Festival travel rush had begun in this capital city of North Chinas Shanxi province. In a 10-square-meter room off to one side, Shi Gaimei had been busy for nearly two hours, helping passengers with special needs, serving them boiled water, checking their tickets to make sure they did not miss their trains, and sometimes pushing their wheelchairs to areas on the boarding platforms with barrier-free access. Related readings:?Chinas railway system is put to the test?Passenger flow increases as holiday nears?China vows to make peoples journey home safe?Transport system braces for 2.85b holiday trips A waiting-room attendant at the station for 26 years, the 50-year-old couldnt be more familiar with this scene. Since 2003, when the station set up the special room at her suggestion, assisting those passengers who come into the room for help - seniors, pregnant women or the disabled - has become Shis main duty. She has in fact gone beyond the call of duty. Shi cannot remember how many times she has taken sick passengers to hospital, paid the medical bills and taken care of them until they recovered and set foot on the train home again. Neither can she recall how many times in the waiting room she has volunteered to cut hair for passengers - mostly elderly male migrant workers reluctant to spend hard-earned money before heading home for the Spring Festival. I dont think a lot about it. I just help them by instinct when I discover passengers in need of a helping hand on