After more than 20 years in aviation, Gabriele Burg is used to ups and downs in working life.

But then Corona was something else.

When she now talks about her first impressions of her new job, she still seems almost as euphoric as a young professional: “I'm just immersing myself in a new, exciting world,” she says, “and I'm very excited that I can meet so many there Can build on commonalities with my old professional world. "

Ulrich Friese

Editor in business.

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Burg is one of those employees in Germany who made a fresh start during the pandemic.

As an A-320 pilot for Germanwings, a former subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa, she quickly felt the economic consequences of the Corona crisis: First, the bookings of tourists and business travelers collapsed in her group.

Then her employer shut down the majority of the passenger fleet for months and sent many employees on short-time work.

High time to try something new

In order to avoid the possible loss of her job, Burg made a courageous decision: to move her job from the runway to the rails within a few months and apply to work as a train driver at Deutsche Bahn. "I got the feeling that my best years in aviation are behind me, and it is high time to try something new," says the Saarland native, who was born in the small town of Urexweiler. She didn't wait long: in October of last year, the 57-year-old applied for training as a "traction vehicle driver" for long-distance transport at the railway, as her job is called in official German.

Your application was immediately successful.

The German state-owned company has hired around 25,000 new employees since March 2020 alone.

These days, Burg's new professional group is in the public eye not only because of the strike by the industry union GDL.

Train drivers have been desperately wanted for a long time.

And Burg had proven over the years that it was responsible for managing public transport and bringing it safely to its destination.

Qualifications that are particularly in demand in the rapidly expanding long-distance rail traffic.

In addition: Among the 19,500 train drivers who are employed by Deutsche Bahn, the proportion of female employees is only 4.5 percent.

A meager quota, which the management wants to increase significantly in the coming years.

"I had a very good life as a pilot"

Moving to a new field of work was not difficult for Burg: “I raved about both professions as a little girl,” she says, “but at that time the prospect of working as a pilot for a large airline was more fascinating.” After a personal interview and the quick acceptance from Berlin, Burg has had a permanent employment contract since July 1st. If she passes the theoretical and practical part of the exam for her retraining, she can expect to drive an ICE series express train in the coming months. The theoretical part is about learning important “rules and regulations for the implementation of a safe rail operation”, i.e. the recognition of signals, the initiation of braking processes or the behavior in the event of an incident. This is what it says in the Deutsche Bahn's specifications.This knowledge is then deepened in the train simulator and in a number of learning trips with instructors.

Burg's entry as a pilot in the 1980s was by no means as straightforward as it is now: When she applied for an apprenticeship at Lufthansa after graduating from high school, Lufthansa promptly gave her a basket. The reason: The supposed privilege of pilot training was previously reserved for male candidates. The German market leader only officially introduced equal rights in the cockpit in 1988. Although today it is still a classic male domain.