CHICAGO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Standing in a spacious 35,300-square-meter building belonging to China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Sifang America in the southern suburbs of Chicago, Roman Delion said, "My (Chinese) partner, me and him, we formed a bond really, and then everybody became family."
The 42-year-old local resident was one of the 25 newly-enrolled American workers CRRC sent to Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, where CRRC is headquartered, to receive training in March this year.
LEARN TO BE MORE PRECISE
During the 30-day training session in Qingdao, Delion and his fellow American workers went to dinner and hanged out with their Chinese trainers. "One week they ended up cooking for me when they were out here. It was really good," Delion told Xinhua.
"We communicated real easily. A lot of them weren't comfortable speaking English, but we got everybody comfortable. I'd say that we could have a conversation and we'd know what we're talking about to each other by 90 percent of the stuff," Delion said ardently. "I made good friends with them. I know mostly every one of them. We talk and it's like a nice tight(ly) knit group."
Like most local residents, Delion knew little about China until CRRC Sifang America won a 1.3-billion-U.S.-dollar contract in 2016 to supply railcars to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and began to construct a factory in their neighborhood.
Only when Delion went to China did he realize how big CRRC was. "It was a big eye-opener. It (the CRRC facility in Chicago) is nothing compared to what they have out there (in China). It's huge, so many people," Delion said admiringly.
Before working for CRRC, Delion did construction work. "It's a different kind of the different processes." Delion told Xinhua that at CRRC, the work is more precise, standardized and step by step. "There's no room for mistakes."
"That's what you learn while you're going through your apprenticeship." Coming back with that extensive knowledge, "it makes it an even easier job," he added.
To Delion's delight, the Chinese trainers "kept saying we're exceeding their expectations, and telling me I'm very professional." "They're the masters. So it was a nice thing to hear," Delion said proudly.
LIFE IN CHINA
Besides training, Delion also enjoyed his life in China. "I really enjoyed the Great Wall, walking up as far as I can go. Wherever we went, everybody wanted to take a photo."
"U.S. Chinese food is not Chinese food. It's nothing from Qingdao," Delion said. "To me it's real healthy. We went out and eat out at the restaurants, (and) we tried different stuff. A lot of us did experience a lot of different foods and amazingly enough, a lot of us liked it."
Delion even went out on his own. He talked back and forth with a tattoo artist in Qingdao through Wechat, went to the tattoo shop and ended up getting a bunch of tattoo work. "Five other people came with me and all got tattooed and made good friends with them."
OVER 800 RAILCARS TO BE MADE
CRRC Sifang America won a 1.3-billion-dollar contract in 2016 to supply 846 railcars to the Chicago Transit Authority. These will replace nearly half of the agency's fleet, where the oldest cars have been hitting the tracks for more than 30 years.
By assembling the railcars in Chicago, CRRC Sifang America is creating some 170 new jobs for local residents.
With the trained American workers coming back, CRRC Sifang America Chicago facility has gone into prototype production, with five railcars being equipped at present. After the first batch of railcars is delivered, scheduled at the end of this year, the facility will go into massive production.
With the experience and the knowledge of how the parent company runs after the trip, Delion is more than ready to introduce his friends and family to work at CRRC.
"I already was in context with friends, family from the neighborhood and letting them know in the future when we get the contract to do mass production," he said. "This is the place they need to start applying."
