The GO train to Barrie thrums along the tracks as it pulls into Maple Station. A chime rings and a voice comes on — though not one passengers might expect.
The voice is young, high-pitched and unsure in its delivery, but resolutely confident in its message.
“Attention all passengers in Coach 257,” the boy says into the microphone, the words pulled from his memory as if he has done this for decades. “Coach 257 will not open at Maple, Maple is our next station.”
He’s confident now, his voice clearer and stronger.Â
“And once again, if you are located in Coach 257, and wish exiting at Maple, please make your way through the train in the opposite direction the train is travelling. Once again, Maple is next.”
Anyone in Coach 257 might have mistakenly thought the announcer was a longtime, grizzled GO employee with an unusually high-pitched voice, but it was actually seven-year-old Nicco Di Mauro.
In a video posted to X by Nicco’s mother, Terri Di Mauro, he ended his announcement to applause from the carriage, sunglasses suavely hung upon his nose as he walks away from the mic, leaving the attendant in awe.
Shout out to for making my kid's dream come true yesterday!
— Terri (Lawson) Di Mauro (@TL_Original)
Nicco's been playing transit simulators for the past several months and takes his routes very seriously. Having the opportunity to make the announcements on the real GO Train was such a thrill for him 💖🚆
The GO train staff member who offered Nicco the chance to make the announcement clutched his heart, grinning with both surprise and pride, as Nicco recited the script from memory. “You’re so good!” the attendant said, as the little boy handed the mic back.
“It was just the best day of his life,” Di Mauro said, beaming with pride. “It’s nice to see him feel confident and take part in something that he truly loves and knows a lot about.”Â
“Me and my husband were so proud of him and his knowledge, and his memory skills.”
Nicco standing outside of Downsview GO station.
Steve Russell/º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStarAfter posting the video online,  for a “behind the scenes tour” of a GO transit facility “to learn more about the trains and meet more of the great people who make it happen.”
Nicco has taken to trains and transit systems over the past month, immersing himself in transit simulators and YouTube videos of GO trains, where he memorized the script for the announcement. He spends an hour each night in his train simulator on the popular video game Roblox, too, preparing for the day when he gets to step into the conductor’s chair.
“He’s autistic and he’s always really been into patterns and order,” Di Mauro explained. Transit maps, in their neatly defined stops, colours and swerving lines, captured Nicco’s attention, he also, in his own words, enjoyed watching the doors open and close.
“It’s a system that flows and works, and he tracks — almost every day — to see if there are interruptions on the TTC or GO transit,” Di Mauro added.Â
He knows the stops and routes by heart.
Nicco recalls, proudly, how he once helped confused TTC riders figure out how to get to the Eaton Centre amidst a closure between St. George and St. Andrew stations.Â
“I told someone to exit at St. George and then go to Line 2 to Bloor-Yonge,” he said, excitedly, before explaining how Bloor-Yonge is his least favourite stop. His favourite? “Anything that has a short walk to the platform.”
When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he paused for a while, before answering, “Of course I’m going to have to say a GO Bus driver.” Not a train conductor? “For weekends, I would do bus. For weekdays, I would do trains.”
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