Though the ‘She-Man’ station will be open for all passengers, it will cater especially to the transgender community.

Noida Metro to convert Sector 50 station into a “She-Man” station! The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has recently invited suggestions from the public as well as NGOs for upgrading facilities for transgenders on its Aqua Line, connecting Noida and Greater Noida. Last week, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in north India, NMRC had announced its plan to convert Sector 50 metro station into a ‘she-man’ metro station, offering special facilities as well as employment opportunities to the transgender community, according to a PTI report. For the transgender station, individuals and NGOs who work for the rights of the transgender community can send their suggestions on nmrcnoida@gmail.com by July 6, 2020. For finalizing the same, the received suggestions from individuals and NGOs shall be deliberated upon by a committee.

The ‘She-Man’ metro station will be on the lines of the Pink Metro stations, which were inaugurated on March 8, 2020 (to mark the occasion of International women’s day) and provided special facilities for women commuters. The employees deployed at the Pink metro stations also consisted only of women staff except for security guards. Though the ‘She-Man’ station will be open for all passengers, it will cater especially to the transgender community. The move will facilitate the travel of the transgender community in the metro and also offer employment opportunities to them.

For this initiative, a few actions have also been planned by NMRC like creating awareness among commuters through messages, signages, announcements at metro station, and within metro train coaches pertaining to the transgender community. The existing staff will be sensitized on engaging transgenders at metro stations post-training. At present, NMRC is exploring the possibility of a change in the restroom infrastructure as well as the creation of a separate frisking facility for the transgender community at the Sector 50 metro station. Prior to the Noida Metro network, in the year 2017, Kochi Metro Rail Limited in the state of Kerala had taken a similar step by employing a total of 23 transgenders.