She may be behind the scenes, standing just to the side of MTA leadership at press conferences, but Siu Ling Ko may be one of the most important people right now at New York City Transit. She is in charge of making sure every subway car has cameras installed inside of them by the end of the year.

“With all the crimes and things that are happening, one of the tasks is to put in cameras in the cars. That’s a huge task that’s on us, car equipment,” Ko said. “So the people who work for me have a huge job ahead of them.”

In 2021, Ko became the first woman vice president and chief mechanical officer at New York City Transit, overseeing subway car maintenance. Her job includes keeping the cars running and clean. She started as a junior engineer in 1987 and faced some unusual challenges right away.

“They actually emptied out the supervisor’s bathroom so I could use it,” Ko said. “So imagine there were no women working in the shop because there was no ladies’ bathroom.”

Ko had already broken through barriers just by studying electrical engineering, a male dominated field. She was encouraged by her family while growing up in Chinatown.

“I grew up with brothers, and basically that’s what they geared me towards,” she said. “I went to a technical high school and technical university.”

Ko is still a minority as only 19% of the current MTA workforce is women. She said while it was difficult at first being the only woman in the shops, she eventually earned her coworkers’ respect.

“I started very young, so they treated you like a little girl,” she said. “But eventually, I just continued doing what I have to do, be responsible, do my job and show them that I’m here to do a job. And to show that there’s value added to what is needed to be done.”

When Ko was appointed to her current role, she didn’t think about the significance of being the first woman, only the weight of the responsibility.

“It’s a huge challenge to be in charge of 6500 subway cars, 13 maintenance shops, two overhaul shops,” Ko said.

Ko said she does realize she is a role model for other women and young girls who may want to get into engineering.

“Even though it’s male dominated, it’s not a men’s world,” she said. “It’s like, so long as you have the interest, you have the talent, you have the drive, you can do it, you can do anything.”