By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A female engineer will operate the high-speed KTX starting April 1, making her the first female KTX captain.
``As a train engineer, it is an honor to become one for the bullet train. I feel as though I've scaled a big mountain and I'm about to face another,'' Kang Eun-ok, 41, said.
Kang will be the first and only female KTX operator since the launch of the bullet train service here five years ago. Three hundred and seventeen other KTX engineers are male.
Kang, who became an engineer in 2000, was also the first female engineer for other types of trains in Korea. She entered the Korea National Railroad College's railroad operation mechanism department in 1996 when the college first allowed admission to women, and joined Korail in 1998.
To become a KTX captain, an engineer is required to have operated other types of trains for more than three years and on more than 100,000 kilometers of routes, and needs special education and training for over 12 weeks to obtain a KTX operation license administered by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. After obtaining the license, another two months of in-service training is a must.
A veteran engineer, Kang got the license in 2006 and has operated other trains for 300,000 kilometers without an accident.
Kang, who was sensitive about discrimination against women, said she wanted to get a job in a male-dominated field like railway and become the best. ``I used to always spur myself with a sense of oppression to do a good performance. But now I know that my success is attributable to my colleagues' support, and I'm enjoying my work,'' she said.
She said the most difficult part of being an engineer is the fear of accidents, and now she has to take responsibility for the safety of 1,000 passengers on a KTX train. ``But I believe I can provide a good service to customers with my experience.''
Including Kang, Korail has 22 and 39 female engineers and deputy-engineers, respectively.