Decades-long ban on female drivers on Moscow’s subway trains overturned

A decades-long ban prohibiting women from driving trains on Moscow’s Metro subway has been overturned. The ban was first introduced in 1980 and prevented the hiring of new female drivers.

Russia’s Ministry of Labor first made the order allowing the first cohort of women to begin training in early 2020. Now, 12 of the 25 women who started the course are set to become drivers.

The first few drivers from this cohort began work on the Filevskaya line, on Sunday 2nd January, 2021. This line is one of the most modern on the Metro network.

“Now we are being trained to work on the new Moskva trains — they are modern, so the working conditions are much better than they were before,” says Kristina Vakulenko, 31, one of the first women to sign up for the program.

Read the full article on CNN Travel here.