All-women crew to operate Ranchi-Tori train today

Ranchi: An all-women crew will run a passenger train on Thursday to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day. The Ranchi-Tori train, which shuttles between the state capital and Tori in the left-wing extremism hit Latehar district every day, will be driven by women loco pilots as well. The on-board train-ticket examiners (TTE) and a special on-board squad of railway police force (RPF) for security will also be women.
“This special arrangement is being made to observe the International Women’s Day. Through this endeavour, we are trying to encourage leadership among women,” Vijay Kumar Gupta, Ranchi divisional railway manager, said.

“Two women loco-pilots train will run the train and a team of six TTEs will be on board during the entire journey. A RPF squad of 15 women personnel will travel to Tori and back. Even the guard will be a woman official,” he added.

The train traverses 111km through Ranchi and Lohardaga districts in over two hours before reaching Tori. It is the only passenger train that connects Bauxite-rich Lohardaga to the state.

Preparations were under-way at Lohardaga on Wednesday afternoon. Gupta and senior officers of the division gave last minute instructions to the station staff for a scheduled felicitation of the women-crew, once the train rolled into Tori station. “The train will also be decked up to commemorate the occasion,” a senior official said.

There are five assistant loco-pilots and one loco-pilot in the Ranchi railway division at present. Suman Lakra from Ranchi was the first woman from the state to become a loco-pilot with the Northern Railway in 2006.

Dipali Amrit, who runs the Ranchi-Tori passenger regularly, said, “The training is not that difficult and women easily learn it. I am sure many women will come forward in this profession in the future.”