History of female drivers in Moscow Metro

Traditionally, it has been assumed that the main profession of the Moscow Metro – train driver – is designed exclusively for men. But since this year, after an almost four-decade break, it has once again become available to women. On January 3, Line 4 saw the first train under the control of a female driver. Have women ever worked as metro drivers? When was it? Why was it banned? Deputy Head of the Moscow Metro for Staff Management Pavel Kovalyov and the Society of Collectors explain.

Zinaida Troitskaya

An ordinary girl, who grew up in a railway worker's family, spent days at work with her father – a locksmith who repaired steam locomotives at the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot. In 1930, she graduated with honors from the railway school and came to work in the depot as a locksmith for the repair of steam locomotives. With hard work and perseverance, Zinaida Troitskaya achieved inclusion in the training group of assistant locomotive drivers. She graduated from these courses with honors as well! The driver in the crew, with whom she drove passenger trains from Moscow to Ryazan, himself appealed to the management of the road with a request to send her to study as a driver. In 1935, Zinaida Troitskaya became the first female locomotive driver in the USSR, and very likely in the world.

Women, to the locomotives!

A year passed, and in 1936, Zinaida Troitskaya, who by that time had become a medal-bearer and a 1st class machinist, published an appeal in the Gudok newspaper: "Women, to the locomotives!" And the call was heard. The young female workers of the Moscow Metro, which at that time was part of the People's Commissariat (Ministry) of Railways, did not want to lag behind. Already in the same year, three train managers (as the driver's assistants were then called) obtained permission to pass the exams for the right to drive a metro train.

Oksana Pinchuk

Oksana Pinchuk was the first to take the exam for a metro driver. At first, she worked on the construction of the metro, and in March 1935, among the best Metro Builders, was sent for further work in the metro. By that time, Oksana Pinchuk was awarded the badge "Strike worker of Stalin’s enrolment". The first final exam for women in the history of the metro, scheduled for December 25, 1936, lasted several hours was very strictly judged. When Oksana answered all the questions about the rules of operation and arrangement of cars, and there was nothing to ask, a strict men's commission issued a verdict – women drivers will be on the metro!

Oksana Pinchuk

Women’s successful exam for the right to drive metro trains was soon reported by the Sovetsky Metro newspaper. The first female drivers at the end of 1936 in the Moscow Metro were already three: Pinchuk, Blinova and Makarieva.

Yekaterina Mishina

Before the War, several dozen female train drivers have already been working in the metro. Leaders began to appear among them. For example, Yekaterina Mishina, who received the right to operate metro trains in the spring of 1937. By March 1942, under the leadership of the 2nd class driver Yekaterina Mishina, the first women's train on the metro was formed, which entered the line on March 8, 1942. It also became the first named train in the Moscow Metro – the 8 March Train. The mass employment of women in the metro during the Great Patriotic War was extremely necessary – many metro workers, including train drivers, despite the exemptions, went to the front. And women in those years mastered many specialties that were considered mainly "male" before the war. For example, during the war years, after the end of the many-hour shift of the driver, it was customary to go down into the repair pit and perform locksmith work on the repair and maintenance of cars. 

The 8 March train

In 1945, Zinaida Troitskaya was transferred from the railway system to the Metro. By that time, she had a fantastic career and became a General Director of the III rank. Having linked her fate with the Metro, she worked there for more than 30 years as the Deputy Head of Metro for personnel and social issues. It was she who in the late 1960s became the ideological inspirer and one of the creators of the People's Museum of the Moscow Metro. 

Driver’s license, 1945

After the War, many women worked as machinist's assistants and machinists, most of whom laid the foundation for numerous labor dynasties. This continued until the early 80s of the last century, when, for a number of reasons, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions issued a decree prohibiting women from working as drivers and assistant drivers of metro trains. 

Driver Tatiana Kostomarova

Given that by that time there were many women working as train drivers and assistant drivers on the metro, they were allowed to continue working. But they stopped accepting new students for training. The only exception to this rule was Yekaterina Mozgalova, who, after many years of working as an assistant driver, was still allowed to pass the driver's exam. After that, she worked in the metro until the mid-1990s and retired as a first-class train driver.

The most recent female metro driver was Natalia Kornienko, who worked in the Severnoye depot until 2014, driving trains on Line 1. 

Natalia Kornienko

Years passed. The rolling stock of the Moscow Metro changed, the train cab became more spacious, quieter and more comfortable. The ergonomics of the control panel has been improved, and the functions that were previously performed manually have been automated as much as possible. These changes gave the Ministry of Labour every reason to allow women to return to an interesting and prestigious profession – metro driver.

By the end of 2020, 12 female drivers have already been trained and started their duties. The first of them, driver Maria Yakovleva, on January 3, 2021, has already left the Fili depot for her first independent flight on Line 4. 

Maria Yakovleva