Deccan Queen to be run by womenb

To celebrate the International Women’s Day, the Indian Railways will run an all-women-staff-operated Deccan Queen Express on Thursday. Not just that. All the Travel Ticket Examiners (TTEs) in the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express will be women.

Further four stations viz. Matunga, Gandhinagar (Jaipur), Chandragiri Rly station (Andhra Pradesh) and Ajni (Nagpur) are have now become all-women-operated stations as part of the Railways Ministry initiatives towards women empowerment.  Of the total 13 lakh railway workers in Indian Railways, there are only one lakh women employees and is constantly increasing.

“Indian Railways is handling its social responsibilities towards women personnel and travelers. Women employees in Indian Railways have shown the remarkable progress. Today, the women employees have registered their presence whether it is the loco pilot or guard or the responsibility of any high office,” said Sheyphali Sharan, Additional Director General (Information), Railway Ministry.

She recalled Surekha Yadav became the first Lady Loco Pilot three decades ago in 1989 and Vandana Chaturvedi from Bhopal joined as first Lady Guard in April 1990.

While the Matunga Station of Central Railway has also got its name registered in the Limca Book of Records, notably Hajipur station of East Central Railway was a women-operated station way ago in 2008. The non-suburban Gandhinagar-Jaipur railway station has also recently joined the list of women-operated stations