Meet Celine Chakhtoura | Inspiring Women in Engineering

1. Tell us what you do at Transport

I am a Transport Planning Coordinator, working in the Temporary Transport Planning Team in charge of organising rail replacement services for the Bankstown line that is

to be upgraded to metro standards for the Sydney Metro Project.

2. What's your proudest moment?

The Sydney Light Rail Project was the first big transport project I worked on, the day it opened to the public has been the best moment of my career so far.

Similarly, when Sydney Metro Southwest opens I will be thinking back on the amount of work my team and I performed and will feel extremely happy and proud of having been part of such an iconic transport project.

3. What advice do you have for other women thinking about a career in Engineering?

I ended up in Engineering not only because mathematics was my favourite subject at school but also because I wanted to be able to see the end result of my work and contribute to the development and improvement of the city I live in. If this sounds like you, go for it !! J

4. How can we transform the future of women in engineering?

I think we should change some of the ways we tend to approach gender diversity in engineering.

For example, I strongly disagree with the measures one of Sydney’s universities has been wanting to implement by lowering engineering ATR entry bar to “encourage” gender diversity and I am sure a lot of women agree with me.

I am also not really in favour of quotas, as it seems to be somewhat devaluing the true reasons why someone is the right person for a particular job (right skills, right experience etc.) – but I might be wrong, that is another debate.

5. Tell us something that people may not know about you?

I was born and raised in Tahiti in French Polynesia. It is a beautiful island with an amazing tropical culture, but transportation is highly unsustainable. Public transport is extremely poor and non-existent at times. Along with my studies in urban planning, this background has developed my passion for reliable, effective and sustainable public transportation.