German emigrant drives one of the longest freight trains in the world in the outback – now she wants to go back
Created: 2022-08-17Updated: 2022-08-17 11:03 AM
In the Australian outback: German Stephanie Fröhlich in front of her workplace.
© Stephanie Fröhlich
Emigrant Stephanie Fröhlich is one of the first women to drive one of the longest freight trains in the world through Australia.
The job has many advantages – and one catch.
Brisbane – "I worked seven days a week in Sydney and couldn't afford anything," says the trained draftsman about her first four years in the Australian metropolis.
Steph, as she is known, scraped together her last savings in 2008, dusted off her old backpacker rucksack and flew to Western Australia (WA) on a one-way ticket to try her luck in the mines.
She started out as a cleaning lady – today she drives a 43,000 tonne train from the Yandi mine to the port of loading in Port Hedland for the mining giant BHP.
The high starting salary lures the workers to the barren outback.
For train drivers, the average in the industry is AUD 150,000 (equivalent to around 100,000 euros).
The signals are green, and we're ready to go: Steph is sitting three meters high in her driver's cab.
The 43-year-old routinely steers her “steel horse”, as she calls her train, from sunrise to sunset through nowhere in Australia.
Solely responsible for a team with four locomotives and exactly 268 wagons with iron ore.
16,000 horsepower in your hand.
“Even after all these years, it still gives me an incredible kick,” she says with a big smile on her face.
Life of an Australian emigrant: When Steph is in the mine, her family stays at home
Steph - like 60,000 other workers in WA's mines - regularly flies into the mine for two weeks as a so-called "Fly-In, Fly-Out" (FIFO) to work.
Her wife Claudia stays with the children on the other side of Australia.
That's not always easy for the young family, but living in Port Hedland wasn't an option.
“It's such an industrial romance there, leisure activities are rather tenuous, few locals, few pubs.
The nearest town is 200 kilometers away, the nearest cinema 600 kilometers,” Steph explains her decision.
Iron ore deposits were discovered in the region at the end of the 1950s.
Around 98 percent of Australia's iron ore mining now takes place in WA.
The raw material is an important economic factor for the country.
And the dismantling runs practically around the clock.
"We work 12-hour shifts and you're on your own.
Connected to Train Control via radio, but in the outback you are on your own.” The pastures of the huge farms are usually not separated from the rails by fences.
The animals would be herded together by helicopter if necessary.
"So you always run over a cow, unfortunately.
You can't stop there, it takes three kilometers.
If there's a cow running across the rails in front of you, you don't stand a chance." If the animal gets wedged under the train or there is another problem,
she has to walk the whole train.
With a train length of around three kilometers, it can take an hour.
“It has often happened that I had to run.
Then you just go off with your flashlight and your crowbar.” Some engine drivers jumped up between the wagons at night to save themselves from a pack of dingoes, she reports.
“You also have to watch out for snakes, they like to lie down on the warm tracks at night.
And there are these little spiders, hundreds of them sitting on the ground.
If you then walk with the flashlight, the eyes reflect.
It sparkles so beautifully, it's kind of cool."
Then you just go off with your flashlight and your crowbar.” Some engine drivers jumped up between the wagons at night to save themselves from a pack of dingoes, she reports.
“You also have to watch out for snakes, they like to lie down on the warm tracks at night.
And there are these little spiders, hundreds of them sitting on the ground.
If you then walk with the flashlight, the eyes reflect.
It sparkles so beautifully, it's kind of cool."
Then you just go off with your flashlight and your crowbar.” Some engine drivers jumped up between the wagons at night to save themselves from a pack of dingoes, she reports.
“You also have to watch out for snakes, they like to lie down on the warm tracks at night.
And there are these little spiders, hundreds of them sitting on the ground.
If you then walk with the flashlight, the eyes reflect.
It sparkles so beautifully, it's kind of cool."
If you then walk with the flashlight, the eyes reflect.
It sparkles so beautifully, it's kind of cool."
If you then walk with the flashlight, the eyes reflect.
It sparkles so beautifully, it's kind of cool."
Australia: German emigrant loves nature and seclusion
The untouched nature and the seclusion make up a large part of Steph's job.
Because of the shift work, she always sees at least one sunrise or sunset, which is simply unique in the outback.
“You can see very far.
Everything is built up in Germany, but when I come towards the port, I can see the glow at night from 70 kilometers away.
It's relatively flat, smaller hills, unbelievable storms, sand storms, dry lightning storms, thunderstorms, and then you just drive in, it's amazing."
The three-kilometer train travels through untouched nature and seclusion.
© Stephanie Fröhlich
In the rainy season from November to March, hurricanes in Australia regularly experience gusts of up to 280 km/h.
Then the production in the mines comes to a standstill, Steph has to stay in the camp.
“We have one-man accommodations with a bathroom, which are stacked containers, so-called dongers.
You're stuck in there for days.” Sometimes the electricity goes out, it gets muggy and stuffy without air conditioning.
Because even in winter the thermometer reaches temperatures between 28 and 30 degrees.
It's almost unbearable in summer.
“There are mostly men in the camp.
And what do they do when a storm comes?
First to the bottle shop.”
(Note: shop for alcoholic beverages only).
"And then you're sitting there in this box among all the dressed up people... that's nice... well."
Steph grimaces in disgust.
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"You don't belong here": Australia's women struggle with prejudice in men's jobs
The physically demanding and often lonely work far away from the family was firmly in the hands of men for decades.
Allegations that women are now taking well-paid jobs away from men are still commonplace today.
"You don't belong here," is what women hear all the time, says Steph.
"The men didn't know how to deal with you either.
Because it's already in people's heads: 'Here, this woman, she can't do that'”.
When Steph started 14 years ago, she was only the third woman in the job.
Today about 20 percent women work in the mines.
"It's not as rough as it used to be.
A lot of men were fired who misbehaved towards women.” She rose through the ranks relatively quickly, despite the strict hierarchical system.
"And when a young woman has to train a man with 20 years of professional experience, it's not always easy." She now takes a lot of things with humour.
"There are still men who think women can't do all that technical stuff.
But now, 14 years later, I just laugh about it when the guys want to send me someone to help me change a wheel.”
Life in Australia's Outback: How a German combines job and family
After two weeks in the mines, Steph is happy to be home to her wife Claudia and their two young children.
Soon there will be five of them, the third child is due in October.
"This FIFO also brings with it family stress and divorce or when you know someone at home is sick and you are 4500 kilometers away at the other end of Australia, that's not easy." She also has to keep reinventing herself integrate into family life - that doesn't always go smoothly.
"Claudi has her rhythm with the children and then I'm just there again and groping around in her life.
We need a few days until things are running smoothly again.” Hardly there, Steph has to pack her bags again.
"You just get anxious, 'Now she's leaving,' you get tense about to leave.
That doesn't leave much time in the middle." Her wife was initially rejected by her first child when Steph wasn't there.
"In his little head, he associated that when he's with Claudi, I'm not there and then he took that out on her."
The developmental spurts in small children are enormous in the two weeks in which she is not there.
That's bothering her.
"He started walking when I wasn't around, of course."
That's bothering her.
"He started walking when I wasn't around, of course."
That's bothering her.
"He started walking when I wasn't around, of course."
Now Steph is thinking about putting an end to her FIFO life and going back to Germany with her family.
She and Claudia lack the family connection, especially for the children.
However, she does not yet know whether she would like to work as a train driver in Germany.
"But then I'll just do something else and start all over again!"
Catherine Loesche
