AN unprecedented threat to boys' career aspirations emerged yesterday when Britain's newest train company gave notice that half its drivers would be women.
Heathrow Express, which will run the direct rail link between Central London and the airport, has encouraged women to apply for driver training as part of its efforts to distinguish itself from traditional railway images, which it believes deter potential passengers.
The title of "driver" has been abandoned. Instead all on-board staff, including drivers, conductors and stewards, will be known as "customer service representatives". Even the maintenance depot has been re-named the "train care facility".
The company, part of the airports group BAA, feels the dominant staff culture on the railways is far less passenger-friendly than among airlines, and has therefore recruited employees mainly from the aviation, hotel, car hire and retail industries.
Of the 120 customer service representatives hired so far, about 70 are women. Of these, 15 are being trained as drivers, exactly equal to the number of men.
Though driving will be their prime role, they will also spend shifts working as guards or passenger attendants, wearing Jeff Banks-designed two-tone blue jackets and skirts.
Across the whole rail network, the proportion of women drivers is less than two per cent. Paul Neal, Heathrow Express's customer services director, said the male mystique associated with train driving was no longer justified. "The driver's cab is a clean environment these days. Technology has taken over much of the traditional job. In many respects it's not very different to driving a car."
Aslef, the train drivers' union, welcomed the arrival of more women in the industry, but warned it was "seeking an early meeting" with Heathrow Express over the company's intention that all staff should be non-union.
The German-built trains, which will run from Paddington to the airport every 15 minutes, stop automatically if the driver misses a red light.
An interim service began yesterday though the full service will not start until June. Most of the £440 million project has been funded by BAA.
