Euston Station: Mural celebrates pioneering female train driver

A mural celebrating one of the UK’s first female train drivers has been unveiled in London.

Avanti West Coast commissioned the image of Karen Harrison at Euston.

Her sister said she hoped Ms Harrison, who was born in Glasgow and grew up in Finchley, north London, would continue to “inspire women to consider train driving”.

The mural is part of the operator’s campaign for a fifth of new recruits to be women.

Ms Harrison applied to British Rail to become a train driver in 1977 under the name K Harrison.

She was given an interview in the belief she was a man.

She became fully qualified in 1979 but suffered discrimination, with staff refusing to work with her, and her locker being defaced.

Ms Harrison went on to campaign to improve life for women on and off the tracks, and took on various roles within Aslef, the train drivers’ union.

She died in 2011 while a mature student at the University of Oxford, and was working towards becoming a barrister specialising in labour law.

Her family gave Avanti West Coast their blessing to commission the mural by street artist Akse.

Her sister, Marie Harrison, said: “Akse’s mural captures that independence of spirit and fierce determination not only to secure her own place in the rail industry but to ensure that other women could follow her path.

“We hope that she continues to inspire women to consider train driving, the job that she loved and fought for so passionately.”

The artist said that it was an “honour” to paint Ms Harrison.

“I hope her image will live long in the memories of the public, and that what she accomplished will never be forgotten,” he added.

Avanti West Coast said it hoped about one fifth of its 120 new trainee drivers would be women. It has a target of achieving an equal gender split for new recruits by 2030.

Some 13% of its driver workforce is female, the firm says, while a 2019 report by Aslef said 6.5% of train drivers in Britain were women.

The company has said it will extend the duration of its job adverts from 24 hours to seven days as it has found women prefer to have more information about the driving role and time to consider it prior to the application process.

Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: “Train drivers should, we think, represent the communities we serve and that’s why we need more women in the driver’s cab.”

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]