International Women’s Day: All-women crew runs goods train from Ambala to Ludhiana

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on Friday, female staff of the Ambala railway division piloted a special goods train from Ambala Cantt railway station to Ludhiana railway station.
On the day, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM) Hanuman Prasad, senior divisional commercial manager (Sr DCM) Ritika Vashisht and other railway officials were present.
The goods train carrying 51,000 tonnes of coal departed from Ambala at 10.55 am and reached Ludhiana at 2.45 pm and was operated by loco pilot Manorama, assistant loco pilot Kriti and train manager Manisha.
Divisional railway manager (DRM) Mandeep Singh Bhatia said, “This symbolic step towards women empowerment taken by the division also shows the continuously increasing participation of women in the railways and the continuous role of women in taking railways to new heights.”
At night, the Ambala Cantt railway station was also illuminated with pink lights, Sr DCM Ritika Vashisht said.
In Punjab, Sahibzada Ajit Singh (SAS) Nagar Mohali railway station under the division was operated as a “Pink Station”, under which the station was fully operated by women railway personnel working in commercial, operations, security and other departments, with complete devotion and dedication.
All-women staff operates passenger train
Ludhiana-Firozpur passenger train was run by women staff from the loco-pilot to the guard. Even the checking staff was all women.
The train was shown the green flag by manager Yogendra Sekhawat at the Ludhiana Junction railway station in the morning.
Bhupinder Kaur and Anjali Kashyap were the loco pilots and assistant loco pilots, respectively.
Besides the special train, the Firozshah station under the Firozpur Division was also operated by women staff for one day. Shalu was the station master and Rashi was the pointsman for the day.
Earlier in the day a goods train run by women reached the station from Ambala.
Speaking to Hindustan Times at Ludhiana station, loco pilot Manorama, who has been working in the railways for 14 years now, said this was the first time that no male staff was on board. A similar train, she recollected, plied some six years ago, but there was a male official on board, she added.
“The aim of celebrating the women’s day was to empower women socially, economically, and politically,” a release by the Firozpur Division quoted divisional railways manager Sanjay Sahu said.
He said female representation was on the rise in the Railways.