Bravo! Indian Railway Took These Steps For Women Empowerment And Promoting Equality

Having celebrated international women's day with great pomp and show, India has begun to churn out more opportunities for women in every field possible. Indian Railways especially, is empowering Indian women by employing them for important jobs in the railways in major cities all across the country.

1. Mumbai

Mumbai's Central Railway’s Matunga station is the first station on Indian Railways to be manned by women personnel. With a staff of 42 women in total, the station is run completely by women - from ticket checkers and cleaners to station manager and ticket clerks - all are women.

Matunga Central Railway Mumbai. Image: Priyanka Bhatt

Here's a look at the country's first women-run railway station.

2. Jaipur

Indian Railways handed over the Gandhi Nagar railway station in Jaipur to an all women crew. It?has a footfall of nearly 7000 passengers per day and of the 50 trains which pass by, 25 trains halt there.

Jaipur Gandhinagar Railway Station / BCCL

The station is operated by 28 women employees, including ticket checkers, RPF, operations staff and reservation and booking supervisors.

3. Banaswadi station, Bengaluru

Another station to be run entirely by women is Banaswadi station, where all including the station master, booking clerk, and reservation clerk, among others are women.

Twitter/@SWRRLY

A report by IANS quoted Railway Minister Piyush Goyal saying "Indian Railways does not distinguish while recruiting people, but there are few sectors in the railways for which Indian women unfortunately do not apply. We would start recruiting more women soon, particularly in the Railway Protection Force."

4. Kolkata Metro

To mark the International Women's Day, Kolkata Metro too, will be one of the women-run stations. The Metro service in that started in the stretch of the chosen station Bhawanipur station to Esplanade on October 24, 1984.

PTI

Women employees of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC) celebrated after Netaji Bhavan metro station was declared an all-women operated railway station on the occasion of International Women's Day in Kolkata on Thursday.

5. Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi express

The Ambala Division of Northern Railway decided to deploy an all-women ticket checking staff on the popular Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi Express.?This was the first time that three women together would be taking care of ticket checking on their own, reported The Indian Express.

The Indian Express

Such initiatives were taken all over the country. Koyna Express and Deccan Express that runs from Pune to Mumbai were managed by all-women staff.