“I can’t drive a car but I can drive a train!
My title is called a Transit Officer instead of a Train Engineer like in the United States, as they can fully troubleshoot the trains themselves.
My father’s friend who is currently working with RapidKL saw there was a job opening and asked whether I would be interested in working as a train driver. At the time, I just graduated and was unemployed so I thought to myself, do I want this job? It seems like a ‘tough’ and ‘hardy’ job.
I was asked whether this job would fit me as they work on shifts, with the earliest being at 4:30am and the latest shift at 4:30pm and their working hours are 9 hours long. I told them I was fine with it. A week later, I got the job!
They never asked me if I knew how to drive a train but why I would want this job. I said that since I was young I rode the train to and from school and have always wondered how it worked, who conducts the train. We usually see people drive their cars, people riding their bikes.
As a female driver, I think we can drive just as good as guys. The question ‘do you drive like a female driver?’ doesn’t apply here because, on the mainline, your gender does not matter. What matters is arriving on time at the stations.
My biggest fear when I drive would be the inability to troubleshoot a failure or when a train won’t move and there is no traction. Most of the time we are alone and at that instant, we might not know what to do.
And the best part of the job is that we get to see different types of people every day. Each passenger has different behaviours and personalities. We see the passengers in the front car to the back because there’s a mirror.
It’s also an out of the ordinary job, especially when people ask me what I do. I’d reply that I work at RapidKL. Then they’d ask whether I work at the station? I’d say no, I drive the trains. Their expressions of shock, awe and disbelief is quite fun to watch!
My family is very supportive of my career with RapidKL as a Transit Officer. My parents don’t mind what I do as long as I love what I’m doing. They aren’t worried either when I come back late because they know that problems with the train can occur.”
