CRRC Sifang America's new recruits leave Chicago for China to receive training

Chicago, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-one Chicago residents that were newly hired by CHINA Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Sifang America leave Chicago on Friday for CHINA to receive one-month training.

The 21 new recruits include eight electricians and eight sheet metal workers. They will receive related training in Qingdao City in east CHINA's Shandong Province, where CRRC is headquartered.

"We will be in (CHINA for) 45 days," 52-year-old Nestor Torres told Xinhua. "We're very good learners and fast learners will make it."

"Our first stop is Beijing. We fly straight to Beijing and then we fly further to Qingdao," 38-year-old Ceasar Rodriguez said. He said he hoped to go back to Beijing to visit after the training.

Forty two-year-old Roman Delion will be a sheet metal worker at CRRC Sifang America. He told Xinhua: "It's really interesting to me to be there and experience that culture." Delion has never been outside the United States, and therefore takes this opportunity as "one in a million."

"I'm real excited to be there, just take everything in," he stressed.

"We're going to be working and learning and then, in our downtime, I want to go see the Great Wall, then Beijing, take a couple of tours, the culture. I just want to experience everything," Delion told Xinhua. He even wanted to get tattooed from a local tattoo artist in CHINA to symbolize the trip.

All the three workers expressed the interest in learning Chinese. "I'm going to take it as much as I can. Actually, your employment here won't be the first time first," Delion said.

One week ago at the newly built CRRC facility in the southern suburbs of Chicago, a ceremony was held to mark their hiring and training.

William Yang, deputy general manager of CRRC North America Inc., extended his warm welcome to the newly hired employees in a speech at the ceremony, hoping they will enjoy their stay in Qingdao.

Chinese Acting Consul General in Chicago Liu Jun at the ceremony expressed the belief that the 21 newly hired employees will not only receive good training in CHINA, but also bring back the friendship of Chinese people.

CRRC Sifang America Chicago facility will soon start production in the middle of 2019 and deliver the first batch of railcars in early 2020.

CRRC Sifang America won a 1.3-billion-U.S.-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.