Deepti Moundekar in the loco-pilot's cabin before starting the six-hour journey. (Express Photo) Minutes before 7 am, when Kalka-Shimla Express toy train is scheduled to depart from Kalka, the TTE is busy checking tickets of the passengers who have already boarded the eight coaches. Meanwhile, a group from Gujarat is chatting loudly as it enters the train, after securing the ticket to Shimla at the last minute, and starts looking for allotted berths. Soon, another drama ensues as the group starts arguing over the window seats and corresponding numbers with the already seated passengers.
Oblivious to all this, and understandably, 41-year-old Deepti Moundekar in loco-pilot’s cabin prepares for the 96-kilometre long journey, which the train will cover in six hours. Sharp at 7 am, the train chugs off from Kalka railway station, with Deepti in command. She joined as loco-pilot on the narrow gauge lane on the heritage route in July 2020 after undergoing two months’ training.
Deepti, 32-year-old Bharti Maina and 30-year-old Priya Singh have a common goal of loco-piloting Shatabdi trains. The trio is associated with the UNESCO declared heritage train route established during the British rule in India.
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Deepti joined Indian Railways in 2006 as assistant loco-pilot (ALP), graduating from driving goods train to passenger trains on broad gauge under Ambala Railway Division before she got a promotion and started loco-piloting the Kalka-Shimla train in July 2020.
Amid the Covid pandemic, she underwent the theory training online – otherwise administered at Indian Railways’ facility at Shakurbasti – and practicals on the narrow gauge heritage route, before taking charge as the first loco-pilot of trains running on the Kalka-Shimla route.
The two-month training focuses on ins and outs of differentiated operations on broad gauge, generally operating on the electric engine, and narrow gauge operating on diesel engines. The trains, moving at a comparatively lesser speed, are manoeuvred on narrow gauge in the mountainous terrain.
As per Deepti, who hails from Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh, as loco-pilot on the Kalka-Shimla railway line, one has to remain attentive given the vagaries of weather, which include fallen trees and boulders on the track, and the seasonal snowfall.
“Is route pe driver ko bahut dhyan rakhna padhta hai (Loco-pilot has to be very attentive on this route),” says Deepti, who did a polytechnic course after matriculation and went before getting recruited as Assistant Loco-Pilot.
Two passengers were killed and 13 injured after a chartered toy train on the heritage route carrying British nationals had derailed in 2015. Over-speeding was the reason attributed to the mishap.
Deepti says that the two-month training also dwells on such incidents, something which is also corroborated by Chief Locomotive Inspector at Kalka Railway Station Rakesh Kumar.
Deepti takes pride in telling that “I am the first woman driver in Ambala Division. I became the first woman passenger driver on broad gauge and now I am the first woman driver on narrow gauge Kalka-Shimla route. It feels so good.”
“Passengers get surprised seeing me drive the train. Many come and talk to me out of curiosity,” says Deepti, adding that her next promotion would be of mail express loco-pilot and “my dream is to drive Shatabdi Express”.
Deepti talks about the “Marathi origin” of her parents, while pointing out that her father retired as station incharge of electricity board in Chhattisgarh, mother a homemaker, and how among four sisters and a brother, she is the only one to join the Indian Railways.
Her husband is working in the private sector. She has two sons, aged 13 and 11.
Also recruited as Assistant Loco Pilot in Ambala division in 2017 was Bharti Maina. After completing her training, she has been working as ALP on Kalka-Shimla route since September 2021. Bharti says that her father retired as a subedar in the army, elder brother was into business, one sister was employed in the prisons department and another is working in the share market.
“I feel very proud when passengers give compliments. It has been a wonderful experience. One day, I would like to drive Shatabadi and Rajdhani,” says Bharti, explaining how training on narrow gauge focused on not exceeding 25 km per hour speed, much lower than speed on broad gauge.
Daughter of a farmer, Priya is undergoing training to work as ALP on the Kalka-Shimla track after joining the department in 2018. “I am the only one in my family to have joined a government job. I like speed and adventure and would like to drive high-speed trains like Shatabadi one day,” says Priya, who was mesmerized by the experience she had in the Kalka-Shimla train as a passenger in 2016. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Priya has two sisters, one working in the share market and the other a fashion designer.
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