The engineer obviously likes his picture being taken - Railfans are, after all, not exactly a common sight in Kazakhstan.
Also note that the train is a Spanish Talgo trainset, not what you would expect to see in a former Sowjet republic! Moreover, the 160 km/h trainset is hauled by a 110 km/h locomotive, but that's not really surprising since the track probably does not allow much more than 100 km/h anyway most of the way.
