I don’t follow any script in my work

 

 

We are talking to Amiran Abashidze, the head of the Kyiv Children’s Railway, about interesting twists of fate, responsibility for the future generation, and the combination of two opposites in one personality.

- Mr. Amiran, you are the head of the Children’s Railway and at the same time you are engaged in a creative profession. How do you combine this?

It’s incredibly difficult. You have to wear two masks all the time. At the railway, everything is very serious, as required by guides and instructions. And there is another life where you can smile, dance, and have fun. With no conference calls and all that stuff so much typical of the office routine. When I ask my students why they came to the railway, very few give me a meaningful and clear answer.

- Did you manage to give yourself that answer?

No. And I know why. Because there are no random people at the railway. The railway is not just a job. It is a separate kind of art. And it is very hard work. For those not involved, it is something beyond imagination. These people live in trains, they are constantly on the move driving or doing other things on the railroad, constantly in different cities and even countries. You wake up in your own bed, get up, go make coffee. A railway worker wakes up in a carriage and begins to figure out what station it is now. Railroaders are a special kind of people, and I am sure they are born that way.

- What do you personally like about the railway?

Well, I am drawn to the railway. When I was 10 years old, I went to study at the Kharkiv Children’s Railway. Now I am 27, and in fact, I have been working at the railway for 17 years.

- And all the time at the Children’s Railway?

        No. After the Kharkiv Children’s Railway, I went to a railway school and studied to become a passenger car conductor. I never had a job as a conductor, but I acted a conductor during the school internship. Then I studied at a railway college and at the same time worked first as a teacher and then as a vice-principal for education at the railway school I graduated from.

- And at the same time you were engaged in creativity?

Yes, I completed a course at Kharkiv TV and worked as a TV host. By the way, the only one who spoke Ukrainian back then was Abashidze. Later, we made a program called House of Music, in which we interviewed stars of the time, such as Svitlana Loboda, Ihor Korneliuk, and others. Due to lack of funding, the program was closed. Together with my friends, we started a TV-based children’s choreography festival called Vzirets Talantu (Model of Talent) whose concerts were held in the Ukraine Cinema and Concert Hall, the largest hall in Kharkiv. At the first festival, we had three thousand participants. And the head of the jury was the Honored Artist of Ukraine, Maestro Hryhorii Chapkis, a man to whom I am very grateful because he taught me how to survive in show business. The Honored Artist of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine Nina Matviienko used to always come and help us. Imagine, when I turned 20, the Honored Artist of Ukraine Nina Matviienko, Nina Shestakova, and Hryhorii Chapkis were at my birthday party.

It happened that a Kharkiv producer noticed me on television and offered me to host a concert program. Not on camera, but live! Still, I agreed. I don’t know why I did it then, but that moment completely changed my life. From then on, I started working on stage. I had 24-26 concerts a month: Kharkiv, Poltava, Krasnohrad, Chuhuiv, Sumy, Kupiansk, our entire region.

- You go to college, work as a vice-principal for education at a railway school, and give a lot of concerts. How did you have time for all that?

I went to college part-time, and my colleagues helped me a lot. Unfortunately, today the college I graduated from does not exist, because it was completely destroyed by the Russians.

As for the school, from Monday to Friday I work with all the curricula, with teachers, at staff meetings, and I supervise students’ internships at the railway, etc. until three or four o’clock. And in the evening and until three or four in the morning I prepare for concerts. I have never followed a script in my work.

But then it so happened that I was invited to Kyiv to work as an assistant director of the Southwestern Railway.

- Why do you think that happened?

I think I’m the only railroader who, let’s say, doesn’t just run straight along the rails like a steam locomotive, but takes this locomotive, lifts it into the air, adds wings to it, and this locomotive also flies on top. I mean, I work with the mayor and give concerts at a time. And everyone knew that I was a railroader. I have never been just sitting idle at my working place. For example, when I started working at the railway school, we made a huge overhaul, replaced the teaching stands, and dressed all the students in uniforms. And for the first time ever, we invited the mayor to our school.

- So, you think it was your effectiveness that resulted in your being invited to become an assistant director of the Southwestern Railway?

No, no, no. I think it was because I was simply known in different circles. I was a high-profile man. The director of the Southwestern Railway came across me somewhere. He saw me as a person who could do anything. And I accepted the invitation.

- It sounds like a fairy tale: 19 years old – and a colonel… Was it difficult?

It was very difficult. The working day was from 6 am to 9 pm. And during these two years,

I had no days off at all. In fact, I was in charge of all the affairs of the railway chief controlling the execution of orders.

But I was lucky. There was a grandiose project – the construction of a railway connection between Kyiv and Boryspil Airport – carried by me and the whole team of the Southwestern Railway like a child, for 9 months. It was an incredibly interesting project, because working on a railway and building a railway are different things. And yes, I am not an architect, nor a builder or a chief engineer – I am an assistant director. But I performed tasks that were directly related to the construction of the railroad bed, railroad tracks, infrastructure, and all bridge structures.

Every morning at six o’clock, we had a motrice train to Boryspil. And from there, we walked two or three kilometers to Terminal D, because there was nothing there yet. To say it was difficult is to say nothing. We spent days and nights there. But we did it anyways – we built the railway! Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine at the time, came and inaugurated the railway. Everything was wonderful. We cried, we really all cried, when that train left.

I remember that Groysman was supposed to come to inspect it 2-3 days before the President arrived. The carriage was ready, everything was painted, but there were no seat numbers inside. The printing house quickly stamped those numbers on metal plaques. And we were sticking them on ourselves. Then there was a sticker to be put to the floor where it was intended for people with disabilities. And me, standing on my knees in my uniform, with a tie, and wiping the floor to put the sticker to. And it’s at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, because Groysman was supposed to arrive at 8 am.

I had so many sleepless nights! I realized that I had a task – to prepare the car for driving with the Prime Minister of Ukraine. That’s it. I had to do it. How would I do it? No one cared. But, thanks to this job, I now know all the points of any production facility in Kyiv that operates around the clock.

- Well, you have done such an important work. Is the new position at the Children’s Railway a promotion?

I wouldn’t say so. My rank is the same, but these are different colonels, and the salaries are different, but I feel much better at the Children’s Railway. Besides, it was me who initiated the transfer. Look, first of all, when I came to the management sphere, all my concerts were over. And I’m only resuming them now, during the war, including charity and commercial concerts.

- Does this mean that the Children’s Railway gives you more free time?

You see, I am more of a railroader at heart, a practitioner, a teacher. In the railway management, you just fulfill your functions, communicate about some telegrams, orders, instructions. And it’s very difficult to realize that you work at the railway, because you only see trains in pictures.

And the Kyiv Children’s Railway has become a challenge for me. When I brought the head of the Southwestern Railway there, its condition was terrible: a shed and three rotten railway cars. As I said before, I don’t know where this love for the railway came from, but in order to keep it alive, you have to nurture it from childhood.

It was hard for me to fight with the management, with my colleagues who considered the restoration of the Children’s Railway unnecessary. Yet after all, we ended up having an order signed to reconstruct the Kyiv Children’s Railway. We developed a project, built a station, carried out a complete reconstruction of the track facilities, signaling and communications, made new traffic lights. There was complete modernization and overhaul of the passenger cars, which I personally did, by the way. I mean, every centimeter, every part of the car was thought out, you know: what kind of compartments there would be; how the doors would open, whether they would be this way or that way; what kind of handles there would be; what kind of emergency brake valves would be there, whether submerged or external. Every single aspect of it! Only the Kyiv Children’s Railway has such passenger cars that have heating, lighting, loudspeakers, and air conditioning.

We built new platforms, 91 meters instead of 40. I had to look for additional cars, and I took three cars from the Kharkiv Children’s Railway, and three more from the Borzhava narrow-gauge railway. And again, we had to repair and restore everything, but this time – according to a well-established pattern. This time we used our own facilities already.

In addition, we launched figure-eight train service for the first time. Our children’s railroad is circular, and there is also a central branch inside. It hasn’t been in operation since 1980’s, more than 40 years. I decided to run our trains in a figure-eight format. Our children were happy. This increased the travel time, from 10 to 30 minutes. But it is also more interesting for our visitors and has a positive effect on the revenue of the railway.

But what’s most important is that it’s a real training and production practice for children. Now, the station duty operators prepare routes, make changes of direction, switch, lock routes. In fact, they perform the functions of a real railway. Put our child now at a large station – and they will be able to control the traffic.

This has made it possible to teach our children about railways in-depth, in a technical and professional manner. Similarly, a driver has to be more focused when driving a train, changing directions, controlling signals, watching the position of switches, etc.

It is a huge advantage even for rolling stock. When moving on a circular track, the wheelsets wear down only on one side. When we move figure-eight, the wear of the wheelsets is even.

- At what age do children start attending you?

 Children come to the School of Young Railroaders from the age of 10. It is an after-school educational institution, but children love our school more than their regular school. Because they are our fans, their eyes are burning, they are full of enthusiasm. The difference is incredible.

- What do children study at the age of 10?

 In the first year, they study the fundamentals of railways. They are taught little by little about what a track is, what it consists of; that there are rails and sleepers, and fasteners between them; that sleepers are needed to keep the rails at a uniform distance from each other so that wheelsets can safely pass, because a millimeter plays a big role there; what the rail track width is; what a track switch is, and what it is intended for; what traffic lights are, and why they are on the railway, – and overall, how it all differs from regular roads intended for motor vehicles. They study the types of boarding platforms and the classification of railway cars. We tell them what a diesel locomotive is, what a steam locomotive is, what an electric locomotive is, how these types of locomotives differ, and what processes are involved. They generally begin to understand what a railway is.

In the second year, they study an advanced course. And in the third year, they decide on their profession to be: train driver, station duty operator, or train manager. And further training is based on the profession they choose.

- How long does the training last?

Children study with us until they enter a school, college or university. Our graduates enter railway educational institutions without the external independent evaluation (ZNO), tests and exams.

- Has the School of Young Railroaders also experienced changes since you joined the Kyiv Children’s Railway?

My experience of working at a railway school was useful to me. The teaching staff remained, as we were like-minded people and were moving in the same direction. But the curriculum has experienced significant changes. The course schedules were outdated. Children had to study something that has not been in operation for ages. For example, a TE3 diesel locomotive that hasn’t been running for 30 years, it doesn’t exist anymore; or the Melentyev lock for the switches that have not been in use for 50 years.

And I had to make course schedules myself for all professions and all courses at the Children’s Railway using scientific and technical literature and modern textbooks.

It took about a year to completely change the education format. But we did it. We introduced exams for train drivers, driver’s assistants, station duty operators, traffic supervisors. An incredible scope of work was done. To say that we reconstructed the school would not be quite right. We just did it all over again.

- As you say, you are gradually returning to your concert activities. So, who are you, Amiran Abashidze, – a railroader or a showman?

I think that I am a railroader by nature and a showman by heart. I am currently the head of the Children’s Railway. I really like my job. It suits me completely. I have 80 people subordinate to me: teachers, instructors, drivers, foremen, etc. We have one thousand four students at our school. It’s very easy for me to work, because all the managers I ask for help always respond.

Perhaps, this is because when I was an assistant director of the Southwestern Railway, I treated everyone as a human being. I helped them then, and now they help me. We have a very complex facility, it’s not just a school – we have diesel locomotives, a steam locomotive, two passenger trains. We transport two thousand passengers in one day. But they realize how necessary it is. After all, we teach children and train future railroaders.

- What inspires you?

Children. Only children. There are situations when it’s very difficult, when you have no mood. Sometimes some working moments can be so frustrating that you want to give up and leave. And then, as you come to teach a lesson or meet students somewhere in the corridor and see their bright eyes, you forget your troubles. I am sure that for the sake of children, you can endure anything.

- What are your plans?

I would like to develop our railway. But, of course, to the extent possible in the context of the war in Ukraine. I pray to God that it doesn’t happen that someday my children come to work for the railway and get disappointed in it. We work for our little railroaders who have just started school... We still have time to change something.

We have a real narrow-gauge railway, everything here is not childish – 4 km of real railway infrastructure, and the responsibility is the same as on a regular railway, – criminal responsibility, by the way. We have 13 pedestrian crossings, and we often have to use emergency braking, because children running through the park along the railroad tracks in their headphones cannot see or hear the train. That is, the responsibility is incredible. Rolling stock repair, infrastructure – you need to know and understand everything.

- Mr. Amiran, from the outside it seems that your life and career are simple and easy. In fact, what is the most difficult thing in your life?

It seems to me that the most difficult thing is to combine the two sides of myself. Perhaps, this is the very manifestation of split personality. On the one hand, there is the railway. I am a man in uniform, serious, tough, strict, because no one will accept you there without severity.

And on the other hand, there is the stage. I am an absolutely kind, sincere, open-minded person, because the audience can feel perfectly well whether you are sincere on stage or not. And it is difficult to combine these two personalities into one, very difficult.

 

                                                                                                Oleksandr Kondratenko, Antonina Linnik
                                                                                 Photos by Yulia Novytska and from the archive of Amiran Abashidze.