Indian Railways‘ Central Railway zone has celebrated International Women’s Day with various activities across its divisions. In this context, the Mumbai Division has operated Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen Express, and CSMT-Kalyan Ladies Special Suburban local by an all-women crew.
Deccan Queen Express:-
The train number 12123 Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen Express is one of the prestigious trains of the zonal railways. The train was run by Surekha Yadav and assisted by Sayali Sawardekar as an Assistant Loco Pilot. Yadav is also the first Woman Loco-Pilot in Asia. The responsibility of the Train Manager or Guard was discharged by Leena Francis.
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The passengers in the train were guided and assisted by a team of six women Head Travelling Ticket Examiners (Hd. TTE) – Smt Neeta, Smt Rubina, Smt Beena, Smt Suraksha, Smt Ranjusha, and Smt Jane, working under Smt Jiji John and Smt Deepa Vaidya both Chief Ticket Inspectors and Conductors.
CSMT-Kalyan Ladies Special Suburban Local:-
The K99- CSMT-Kalyan Ladies Special Suburban Local ran by Mumtaz Kazi and assisted by Mayuri Kamble, the woman Guard. Kazi is the first Suburban Motorwoman on the continent.
Apart from these, the zonal railway has presented Level-1 certificates to 20 women railway employees and Sewing machines to four female dependant daughters of railway employees. It also released a handbook on ‘Welfare Measures for women Empowerment in railways.’
Indian Railways
Matunga Railway Station has become the nation’s first suburban railway station to be run by women employees since 2017. The station falls under Central Railway’s Mumbai division and has entered the Limca Book of Records 2018.