İstanbul to employ 88 women train drivers

Photo: IMM/File

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Eighty-eight women train drivers have completed their training and will receive their badges in a ceremony on September 10, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) has announced.

The training started in February and the driver candidates received about 368 hours of training, the municipality noted. They each spent 17 hours and 45 minutes behind the wheel and traveled 216.2 kilometers, it added.

As of January 1, there were a total of 684 train drivers employed at Metro İstanbul and 11 of them were women, according to the municipality. With the participation of the new drivers, the number of women drivers will increase to 99.

Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu noted in a statement that only four of the 66 new drivers were women last year, whereas it increased to 88 this year.

"I am very happy," he said. "I am proud that we made a big step towards realizing our targets."

İmamoğlu assumed office after the 2019 local elections.

More than two million people use subways every day in İstanbul. (EMK/VK)