This excerpt from the short film The Driver features John Davis, an inner-city train driver returning to work and flashing back to the moment when he realised there was a fatality on the rails. Directed by Melbourne-raised, Sydney-based Tim Russell, the film seeks to represent the stressors and loneliness experienced by train drivers – who keep cities moving through the night, but who often go unseen.

This clip is grounded by an authentic atmosphere, shot on location at Sydney’s iconic Olympic Park train station with a real train. Wide shots of the gloomy, deserted station reflect the sense of isolation train drivers can feel, before the focus shifts to Dean Kyrwood’s powerful performance as John, zeroing in on the dread and inner turmoil aroused by his traumatic memories.

‘Train drivers are locked away from us, literally out of our sight,’ Russell said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘They can't stop the train in time, so they have to watch as the horror unfolds. This film is really trying to show what that does do to you.’

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