The inside track on being a female LNER train driver

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is pledging to shift the dial on attitudes to women pursuing careers in the rail industry, particularly train driver roles.

LNER research showed only one per cent of women said they had wanted to be a train driver when they were young compared to 21 per cent who wanted to be famous and 23 per cent who wanted to be a teacher.

If the reason women aren’t interested in being train drivers is that they think it’s a dull, unrewarding job in a sexist atmosphere, LNER’s female drivers have news for them. MailOnline Travel got the inside track on life at LNER from four of them – including a former neuroscientist and an ex-lawyer – and the consensus is that it’s a highly fulfilling career.

Three of LNER’s female drivers, left to right: Trudi Kinchella, apprentice Vandana Mungur and former neuroscientist Mena Sutharsan

Mena Sutharsan, 36, did a BSc in biomedical science at UCL and then a masters in neuroscience at King’s College London.

She spent ‘ample time in labs’ and worked on Alzheimer’s for her MSc project.

After graduating, she decided that ‘being a scientist wasn’t for me’.

She said: ‘I thought about a career transition and decided to become a translator…

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From Daily Mail - March 29, 2021