A Maribyrnong local has been learning to drive trains in the new Metro Tunnel and mentoring other trainee drivers along the way.
Anna Tirotta is one of more than 500 drivers trained to drive trains through the Metro Tunnel’s new state-of-the-art tunnels and stations
She described the Metro Tunnel, opening in early December as a “new age” for the city’s rail network.
“The Metro Tunnel will change how people get around the city forever,” Ms Tirotta said.
“To be a part of it is really exciting.”
The new twin nine-kilometre rail tunnels between Kensington in Melbourne’s north-west and South Yarra in the south-east will connect the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines up to 40 metres under the centre of the CBD.
The project includes five new underground train stations – Arden, Parkville, State Library and Town Hall and Anzac – which will allow people to catch a train for the first time to Parkville’s hospitals, the University of Melbourne and the St Kilda Road business district.
The drivers trained for the opening of the tunnel have each undertaken extra training on the cutting-edge systems and technology that will be used on the new train line.
Each driver must undertake about 150 hours of extra training on the cutting-edge systems and technology that will be used in the tunnel and on sections of the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.
Ms Tirotta left behind her career as a sales consultant to become a train driver nearly a decade ago – and has not looked back.
In recent years she has become an on-the-job trainer, mentoring other drivers as they learn to drive in the new tunnel.
