This is what it’s really like to be a female train driver with Southern Railway

Train drivers Polly McGillivray and Laura McDonald on why the railways are the perfect workplace for women
Polly McGillivray (L) and Laura McDonald

“When I joined the rail industry eight years ago as a train driver, it was a career that really didn’t have many women in the role,” says Polly McGillivray, operations learning manager for Southern Rail.

“[But] the number of women working in it has grown, slowly but surely. On Southern in 2017, only 17 per cent of the train driver intake was female — in 2018, it’ll be 30 per cent, which is a huge rise,” she explains.

McGillivray has been a part of Southern Rail since 2010. She previously worked in recruitment and marketing, but after she was made redundant during the recession, she decided it was time for a career change.

"I was shown an ad for Train Drivers at LOROL (London Overground Rail Operations) and I said ‘I wonder if women can apply?’ It wasn’t that long ago and even I was thinking like that. The assessment process was hard and stressful, and they expect high pass rates to get through, but I did it. I can’t explain how glad I am I took the leap," she recalls.

McGillivray became a full-time train driver for the Overground, a role she described as 'incredibly rewarding'. After two years on the London Overground and three years driving freight trains across the Australian outback, she was ready to take the next step.

She hung up her full-time driver's hat and took up the role of operation's leading manager for Southern at the Selhurst Training Centre, based in Croydon. She still drives the London Victoria to Brighton mainline for four hours each month though.

"In my new role, I get to teach the next generation of train drivers and inspire those that I come across to become something that they might never have thought they could be,” she says.

In the UK, just five per cent of Britain’s 19,000 train drivers are women, and bringing more into the rail industry is now a large part of McGillivray’s role.

So successful is she at it, she was recently nominated 'Rail Person of the Year' at the Rail Staff Awards.

Polly McGillivray

“I have been working hard with Southern to encourage more women to consider the role of Train Driver," she explains. "Diversity and inclusion is so important in the workforce.”

One woman McGillivray has inspired is Laura McDonald. Formerly a nurse, McDonald made the career switch at the beginning of 2017 and, after 18 months of training, became a fully-qualified driver last June.

“When I first started out as a nurse, I loved the job and thought it was something I would do for the rest of my life,” McDonald explains.

“After six years of working 12-13 hour days, I was becoming physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted,” she continues. "I realised that I needed a change. Driving trains was never a career choice that had crossed my mind but I know that nursing prepared me well to be able to cope with stress and keep a cool head under pressure.”

McDonald found that with her new job came a different kind of responsibility. Instead of looking after stroke patients, she was driving trains of up to 1,000 passengers during peak travel times.

“Train-driving is a safety-critical role,” McDonald explains. “No matter what, while you’re on the clock you need to be 100 per cent focused at all times and there are many, many rules and regulations that we have to adhere to, to keep ourselves and the public safe. But the nature of the job means that when your shift ends you can switch off and not take any work home with you.”

Laura McDonald

Of the 15 people who joined Southern alongside McDonald, just three of them were women.

“I have a few female colleagues who are train drivers, but the majority are men. The blokes are all great though; there’s a real family feeling and not a ‘laddy’ culture at all. That’s not to say there’s no good, old-fashioned banter though and we all give as much as we get,” she says.

“Although it’s historically male-dominated, I’ve never been treated differently," she adds. "There’s a real sense of equality — we all work really hard, receive the same pay and all muck in together.”

There are a number of perks to the role too. McDonald works four-day weeks, with five days off every three weeks, and also receives free train travel for herself and her family on Southern.

But for McGillivray, the greatest reward is seeing more women find their feet in the industry. “The feeling of seeing the people — both men and women — I teach grow and get more confident is incredibly rewarding. I end every day feeling like I’m really making a difference.

“The more women we see in traditionally male-dominated industries, the more we can break down barriers and show all women and girls that they can do and be anything they put their mind to.”

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