SCR declares four all-women railway stations

HYDERABAD: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, South Central Railway on Thursday made four railway stations “All Women Employees Stations”.

The four stations are Begumpet in Secunderabad division, Vidyanagar in Hyderabad division, Chandragiri in Guntakal division and New Guntur in Guntur division. Eight commercial clerks, four enquiry-cum-reservation clerks, six constables and one inspector — all women — will now be running all the operations in these stations. Another two stations, Phirangipuram in Guntur division and Ramavarapadu in Vijayawada division, will also employ only women by this month-end.

SCR general manager Vinod Kumar Yadav visited Begumpet railway station and formally declared it as All Women Employees Station in the presence of divisional railway manager of Secunderabad division, Amit Varadan, and other senior officials.  He interacted with women employees at the station and lauded the dedication of MMTS loco pilot Satyavathi.

“About 20 per cent of SCR staff are women and they have played a stellar role in various capacities as loco pilots, station masters, technical and security personnel. Begumpet is among the busiest stations handling 108 local trains and 28 long distance trains a day, with passenger footprint of 23,000 a day,” he said. Security of women passengers is heightened by deployment of Nirbhaya squads comprising lady ticket checkers and Railway Protection Force personnel in suburban trains in the city, he added.

“We are happy with the development,” said Alekhya, an employee, while her colleague Rumka said: “”There is a sense of unity among us now.” At Vidyanagar MMTS station, SCR has employed four women as commercial clerks, five as reservation staff and three as security staff.