Annie Sinha Roy: Bangalore Metro’s woman tunnel engineer, who managed a crisis

April 29, 2016, NewsCrunch

Last May when Annie Sinha Roy, India’s only tunnel engineer, joined Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC), there was a crisis.

The tunnelboring machine, Godavari, had got broken down on the underground stretch between Sampige Station and Majestic.

As an assistant engineer, it was Annie Sinha Roy’s job to get the machine repaired  and restart the boring work.

The Times of India reports that Annie Sinha Roy rose to the challenge, got Godavari to whirr again and finish the underground stretch. Thanks to Annie Sinha Roy and other Metro employees the East-West corridor of Bangalore Metro opens for public on Saturday.

It is not common to see a woman tunnel engineer, which counts among the most dangerous civil engineering jobs in the world.

But challenges are nothing new to Annie Sinha Roy.

She lost her father while completing degree in mechanical engineering from NagpurUniversityand had to get a job to manage the family. She joined Senbo, a contractor with Delhi Metro,

She also had stints with Chennai Metro and Doha– where she was rejected visa thrice as she was not married – before joining Bangalore Metro.

Annie Sinha Roy, who hails from Kolkata, says there was always a question among her male colleagues on how long she would last.

She seems to have answered that.