"Not everyone tolerates it either": Marcella drives subways through Munich - many passengers are currently unsettled

Created: 06/30/2022, 10:58 am

By: Lukas Schierlinger

Marcella works as a subway driver in Munich.

© Screenshot ZDF

As a subway driver in Munich, Marcella has her finger on the pulse of the times.

In a ZDF contribution, the 38-year-old can be looked over the shoulder.

Munich - "You're in your own world down there.

You have to like it.” Marcella controls subways through Munich.

The 38-year-old Polish woman is up to 36 meters underground every day.

For the ZDF format "37 Grad" Marcella was accompanied at work.

There is no question for her: “Not everyone can tolerate this loneliness.

There are certain people who can do that.”

Whether it's raining, storming or snowing, Marcella only notices after work.

When the escalator takes them back to the daylight.

She then instinctively grabs her sunglasses.

After a strenuous shift, the eyes react sensitively to new influences.

Subway driver in Munich: “Personally, that also makes me proud”

As the mother of a three-year-old daughter, shift work presents the 38-year-old with major challenges.

Her husband also works.

Creativity is required there.

Marcella likes how collegial the Munich Transport Company (MVG) is.

"I've often relieved colleagues who suddenly had to go to the child." One hand washes the other.

What is their motivation for going underground every day?

"When children smile at me, wave at me.

All of a sudden it feels like the sun is shining," says the Polish woman, beaming with joy.

In addition, there is the great responsibility that she bears as a subway driver for often hundreds of passengers: “Personally, that also makes me proud.

It's not a run-of-the-mill job.” Sitting in the office all day?

That would be unimaginable for Marcella.

Ukraine war dampens the mood: many passengers in Munich are currently unsettled

As a subway driver, she has her finger on the pulse of the times.

And what she has observed in the past few months does not please the 38-year-old.

In the ZDF report, Marcella says that the war in Ukraine is a burden for many of her passengers: "You can tell, people are unsettled, they don't get any rest." She hopes that the people of Munich "will soon be able to breathe again".

Because: "The lightness is already lost."

For more than 50 years, the subway in Munich has been one of the most important forms of public transport in the state capital.

The route map has a total of 96 stops, some of which are true works of art.