Matunga Road railway station to be run by an all-women staff starting tomorrow
Mumbai's Railways are celebrating Women's day by hiring all women staff from tomorrow and the future. According to official Railway sources, Central Line's Deccan Queen Express, running between Mumbai and Pune daily will be run by an all-women crew, tomorrow, to commemorate International Women's Day. Official Central Railway sources claimed that the Loco Pilot and the first woman train driver in Asia, Surekha Yadav, and Senior Assistant Loco Pilot, Trushna Joshi will be assisting her tomorrow. Along with them, Sweta Ghone will be working as a 'on duty guard' of the Deccan Queen and will be giving clearance, while the ticket checking staff, Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel and electric technicians will also have all women staff on duty.
Apart from that, the Central Railway will be setting up a special counter at the Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CMST) which will be managed by all women tomorrow, for seeking suggestions from women commuters. All the suggestions will be screened by the Railway Administration later and will then be implemented.
The Carriage and Wagon Depot at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) has a strong presence of women employees. Official sources claimed that in order to enhance their benefits, the Central Railway is renovating their changing rooms with several other amenities like water purifier, dining table, wall clock, curtains, sanitary pad dispensers with incinerators and so on. “We are doing this just to increase a step towards recognising the presence of women in all walks of life, including complicated and technical train operations,” said Sunil Udasi, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Central Railway.
Likewise, the Western Railway has hired an all-women staff which will run the entire Matunga Road station from tomorrow. Matunga Road station will be the second suburban station to be run by an all-women staff, and the first on the Western Railway. According to official Western Railway sources, the women staff will include station manager, ticket checkers, announcers and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel. Last year, similarly, the Central Railways had hired an all-women staff to run Matunga station.
In order to commemorate International Women's Day, the Western Railway has given a makeover to the city's first Air-Conditioned (AC) local train by re-painting its first and last coaches which have been reserved especially for women passengers. Sources claimed that the railway authorities have painted the coaches green to depict the environment, and as an attractive factor.