Ranchi: This March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Ranchi railway station will be manned and managed by the women personnel of Ranchi railway division, said officials.
While female loco pilots will drive passenger trains originating from the station, the station will be completely manned by women constables of the Railway Protection Force. Even the booking windows will be manned by women clerks and there will be women ticket collectors and train ticket collectors on board.
“We want to send out a message that the women employees of Ranchi railway division are equally able and capable to excel in every sphere of the functioning of Indian Railways,” a senior official of the division said on condition of anonymity.
As per the plan, there will be an all women crew on board the 68037 Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori Memu passenger, which will depart from the station at 8.55am. The loco pilot, assistant loco pilot, traffic guard, train ticket examiner and on board RPF personnel will all be women.
There will be as many as 25 RPF women constables, who will replace their male counterparts across various key points of the station such as entry, exits, platforms, baggage checks and grievance redressal kiosks.
The station’s pointsperson and signalling in-charge will also be women personnel. All these deployments will be made for an eight hour shift, beginning 6am.
“We have pooled in our women personnel from different parts of the division for the day. Only the station master will be a male. All the women personnel will head back to their respective points of posting thereafter,” another official said.