V/Line’s first all-female group of trainee drivers are spending their first weeks on the network visiting stations and driver depots across the state.

Minister for Public Transport Ben Carroll met trainees Ashleigh McComb, Stephanie Love and Lauren Clemas at Traralgon Station today to mark the commencement of the driver training program.

The trainees travelled along the Gippsland line throughout the day with their trainer Dave Richards as part of the second phase of their training to familiarise themselves with key locations on the network, following an intensive period of classroom training earlier in the year.

They are part of a class of eight female trainees who were recruited from non-rail backgrounds, bringing with them a diverse range of experiences, including a former aviation worker, apprenticeship network provider employee, stay at home mum and Indian Army Major.

The group began classroom training in February following a comprehensive series of interviews and aptitude testing to ensure the best possible candidates were selected.

The training program takes more than 70 weeks to complete and features several modules including classroom training, practice on V/Line’s driver simulator and experience on the network with a team of practical driver trainers.

Recruits from this class will be entering the network as fully qualified drivers in mid-2022.

V/Line now has more than 500 drivers and is continuing to expand its workforce to help meet the needs of growing communities in regional Victoria.

There are several other trainee driver groups at various stages of the training program. In addition to drivers from non-railway backgrounds, V/Line also recruits trainee drivers who have previous experience driving trains for other operators or have worked in other roles within V/Line.