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TRA appoints its first-ever female station master

The Taiwan Railway Administra-tion (TRA) announced yesterday that it would appoint 48-year-old Shangguan Huei-jhu (上官慧珠), currently the director of general affairs at the Kaohsiung Train Station, as station master for the newly built New Tsoying (新左營) Station.

Shangguan will be the first female station master for the state-run administration since its founding 119 years ago. She is scheduled to start serving in her new capacity in October.

Shangguan was informed that she would be awarded her position last week. She said that she had not expected to be appointed as station master so quickly.

"I was surprised about the new job arrangement and was totally unprepared for it," she told the Taipei Times. "I feel it is going to be quite a challenging task."

She added that all she knew at this point was that the new station is twice the size of Kaohsiung Station and that she would have to ask for a briefing for more information.

The New Tsoying Station is situated adjacent to a station built by the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. Once it begins operating, the station will accommodate passengers from both systems.

Chang Ying-huei (張應輝), director of the TRA's transportation management department, said the New Tsoying Station is listed as one of the first-tier stations in the country. Shangguan was chosen from candidates serving as station masters in the second-tier stations or as general affairs directors for stations.

"She [Shangguan] has a thorough working experience within the administration, which is rare," Chang said.

Born and raised in Chiayi County, Shangguan moved to Kaohsiung when she married in 1983. She passed the TRA personnel examination in 1984 and has since held different positions at the Kaohsiung Train Station, working as a telegram operator, a train guard and a deputy station master.

As a woman working in the TRA's male-dominated working environment, Chang said that it is not an easy field to break into because there have traditionally not been many opportunities available for women.

As an example, she noted that the administration sometimes has job openings at smaller stations where station masters sometimes work night shifts, but female employees are often passed over as potential candidates because of safety concerns.
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