The siren echoes through the half-abandoned workshops of the Ethiopian railway, where workers Goshou, Berhanu, and Basha struggle daily to make their train run, covering 207 kilometers through the desert, on a trip that takes over ten hours. Not far from there, a new line built by China is already operational and threatens to make this historic route obsolete, which has been managed with such passion. To the workers, it feels like betrayal, a personal and collective humiliation. But with the city of Dire Dawa administration taking over management, hope sparks in the workshops.